Class X~- 

Book 

Copyright}! 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



NEW VIEWS 

ON 

OLD SUBJECTS 



Social, Scientific and Political 



BY 

J. WILSON, Ph. D. 

Author of "Practical Life," VPhrasis," '.'Radical Wrongs, 
"Life Without a Master," "New Dispensation," 
"Living Thoughts," Etc. 



LEMCKE & BUECHNER 
NEW YORK 
30 AND 32 WEST 27th STREET 
1910 



Copyright, 1909, by J. Wilson. 



PART I 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



In this volume it has been my chief aim to 
keep alive what I have already presented in other 
works and to have my readers treasure up and re- 
member what I have all along considered to be 
most valuable and serviceable truths. I have 
never felt inclined to argue with my readers. I 
am not fond of controversies — besides, I always 
bear in mind how difficult, and how utterly impos- 
sible in practice it is to make people see and under- 
stand what they do not wish to see and do not care 
to understand. I am not fond of making converts, 
and whether others decide to see things as I see 
them or do not, never gives me the slightest con- 
cern. Whether people believe or do not believe, I 
have always considered it to be their matter rather 
than mine. I have always regarded it as my pre- 
rogative to believe as I please, and why should I 
not be willing to grant to others the same privi- 
lege! I might remark that I have taken great 



4 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



pains and I have gone to considerable expense 
in various ways and at different times, to return 
to the world the light that had been given to me; 
and having done this to the best of my ability, 
it has seemed to me that there, so far as the public 
is concerned, my obligations end. 

Whether I shall have due credit or not for 
what I have said and done is a trifling matter 
hardly worth considering. Such things are never 
equitably adjusted in the affairs of this world. 
There is a great deal of chance, and sometimes 
there is artifice, in manipulating the scales when 
reputations are weighed. Some men get too much 
credit, and others not enough. However, the world 
goes round just as well in either case. It is some 
satisfaction, it may be added, to have people know 
what we have said, even if no thanks are rendered. 

No writer is ever permitted to know at last 
just what impression he has made upon the public, 
or how far his doctrines have been accepted or fol- 
lowed by his readers. , That is one satisfaction 
that is denied necessarily to all authors, simply be- 
cause this fact which they would most like to know 
is one that is not ascertainable. It is something 
that cannot be measured or defined, and therefore 
it can never be individualized. But a writer is 
generally able to perceive what progress has been 
made, and is still being made in the world, by the 
doctrines which perhaps he has himself long advo- 
cated and to the study of which his whole life has 
been mainly devoted. And that is the very happy 
and consoling experience of the author of this 
book. 



PERSONAL, AND PREFATORY 



5 



In my first work, published in 
Errors of 185g j took for consideration and 

Grammar. 7 * 

discussion the "Errors of Grammar. ' 
The study of grammar at that time, a full half cen- 
tury ago, received some attention in schools, but 
when the writers themselves had such crude no- 
tions of language and its office, how could we ex- 
pect the teachers and pupils in the schools of that 
day to make any more satisfactory progress than 
they did ? The prevailing system followed at that 
time was the one found in Kirkham 's Grammar, a 
work based mainly on Murray 's Grammar, a well- 
known English production of that period. This 
was followed by Brown's Grammar, a larger and 
more complete work than Kirkham 's, but not es- 
sentially different from it in theory and plan. The 
first grammar in which a new departure was taken 
in this country was that of Professor Clark, of 
Cortland, N. Y. 

According to Murray's system, 
Kirkham's adop ted by Kirkham, words were 

Grammar. r 17 . , ' , . 

treated as material things, instead of 
being as they really are, simply developments of 
thoughts and mere signs of things. The nomen- 
clature of grammar fifty years ago, and for a long 
period before and after, gave striking evidence of 
the materialistic view of language that was ac- 
cepted by the scholars and writers of that day. 
The words of a sentence were treated as separate 
and distinct individuals. They were " parsed' ' 
by the pupils of that early time — a very amusing 
pastime to say the least. There were objective 
oases and nominative cases; there were transitive 



6 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



and intransitive verbs; there were indicative and 
subjunctive moods, and an imperative mood be- 
sides. Words were tacked or pasted upon other 
words, and thus we had what are called adjectives ; 
there were interjections, or words thrown in, and 
conjunctions, by which words were tied or joined 
together. 

When we come to examine the 
Ex^stonT g rammars of early days, we find, in 
the definitions given, such language as 
the following: ' i Nouns have three genders/ 9 
when it is known that animals alone have gen- 
der, and usually there is but one gender to one ani- 
mal. Again, ' ' Person is a property that varies 
the verb." How does it vary the verb? Can 
any word, can anything be varied? 4 4 The objec- 
tive case expresses the object of an action or rela- 
tion. 9 9 How does it express anything of the kind 1 
Do words have any expression? "An adverb is a 
word used to modify the sense of a verb. 9 9 But it 
it well known that no word can restrict or modify 
the meaning of another word. And still the imag- 
ination runs on, and language as absurd as this, 
on all subjects, is being written and published 
every day. Of course when people start on the 
basis of a wrong belief, the farther they proceed, 
the deeper in error they find themselves at last. 

"Errors of Grammar" presented 

a New a LigM. lan g ua £ e in a new li % ht A sentence 
was treated as a simple growth, a com- 
plete whole, and words were conceived to be mere 
signs of ideas, as they really are. What the sen- 
tence expresses is one idea, or thought, and not 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



7 



as many ideas as it happens to contain words. 
This conception of language was comparatively 
new at that time, but it is coming to be accepted 
very generally as the true one at the present day. 
However, the study of language, or of the philoso- 
phy of language, does not receive the attention 
that it deserves even to-day, either in Europe or 
America, and hence, speaking comparatively, the 
advancement made in this department of literature 
is limited. As has been so often observed, this is 
a commercial age, and what progress could we ex- 
pect in the philosophy of language at such a time 
as this? 



About the time that "Errors of 
New views Grammar" appeared, or a little ear- 

of Truth. . 

lier, an article was published in the 
New York Teacher giving the writer's views of 
Truth. The position which was then taken, and 
which is still held by him, is that truth is not 
eternal, but merely for the time being; that it is 
not general in its nature, but is largely local in its 
habitat; that what is truth for one people is not 
necessarily truth for other people living in other 
lands; that it is something that changes even for 
the same people at certain periods in their history; 
that truth is not something to contend over, but 
something to inquire into and to endeavor to un- 
derstand; that truth, finally, is a matter of mere 
opinion and belief, and that what people think 
and come to believe is wholly a personal affair of 



8 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



theirs, with which other people have no right to 
meddle in any manner or at any time. I am glad 
to note that this view of truth is getting to be 
very common among thinking and reflecting men 
at the present day. If we read the current litera- 
ture of the day, containing our advanced thought 
as a nation, we shall find that there is a growing 
tendency to form new conceptions of truth. The 
belief in everlasting truth is visibly waning. The 
truth that intelligent people believe in nowadays 
is sensible truth, truth that is at the same time 
rational and beneficial. People now do not rely 
so much upon authority as they do upon their own 
good judgment. A new name that has developed 
of late has come to be applied to those who are 
accustomed to view truth in a new light. They 
are called "Pragmatists." Most of them seem to 
accept Max Stirner's view that "My truth is the 
truth"; or, in other words, what I believe and 
what seems good for me, is my truth. 



Some fifty years ago or more, my 
Aurora views on the true source of Northern 

Boreahs. 

Lights were first published. Those 
views attracted no great amount of attention, for 
the reason that people then, as they are now, were 
so busy with their own affairs that they had no 
time to consider the true origin of what is com- 
monly known as the Aurora Borealis. An un- 
founded explanation, as often happens, would 
seemingly answer all purposes quite as well as one 



PERSONAL. AND PREFATORY 



9 



that was based upon fact, and so, as it appears 
to be more convenient all around, the unfounded 
theory has come to be generally accepted in this 
instance as the true one. Not only in this case, 
but in all the affairs of everyday life, the easy and 
comfortable career of fiction is usually preferred 
to one that requires more labor and greater sacri- 
fice. Fiction and falsehood comes unsolicited and 
it demands no effort; while to attain the exact 
truth implies both inquiry and exertion. 

As to the Aurora in question, it has been com- 
monly supposed to be due to electricity or magnet- 
ism — but just how or why, has never yet been 
satisfactorily explained. However, as it was not 
easy to prove such a thing true, it was also diffi- 
cult to prove that it was false, and so the matter 
has remained unsettled down to the present mo- 
ment. In the theory advanced by myself, it was 
assumed that the auroral display was due chiefly 
to light and shadows thrown upon the sky, after 
the sun had sunk below the horizon. 

In the first place, auroras properly so-called 
are seen only at night, when the sun has set, or is 
setting, and when its light strikes the upper atmos- 
phere, being reflected finally from the under sur- 
faces of clouds. It will be remembered that the 
clouds reflect light like a mirror, and at the same 
time uniformly cast shadows like all opaque 
bodies. The Northern Lights move and maneu- 
ver like shadows, and that is clearly what they 
are — light and shadows combined, the sun, from 
which the light emanates, being at rest, and the 
clouds, which cast the shadows and reflect the 



10 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



light, being usually in motion. These lights and 
shadows are observed mostly in the early evening, 
while the sun is not far below the horizon and 
there is more or less twilight. As a phenomenon, 
they are most striking in the Arctic regions, where 
the sun is never far below the horizon. This is the 
view of the phenomenon that I formed many years 
since, and I have never had the slightest reason to 
doubt its correctness. It is my view still. The phe- 
nomenon has nothing more to do with electricity 
and magnetism than the sun's light has ordina- 
rily. 

It will be remembered that peo- 

wltchcrafr P le ' Vei ^ wiSe and Ver F g° 0d P e °P le > 

really believed in witches and witch- 
craft for hundreds of years ; indeed, they believed 
in some kind of sorcery till they took it into their 
heads to believe in something different. People 
as a rule pay little attention to reason — they sim- 
ply take a notion, and that is all. And many peo- 
ple, quite intelligent people, believe in demons and 
sorcery still. Is it an uncommon thing for truth to 
make slow progress in this world? Is it really 
any wonder that people generally fall back upon 
electricity and magnetism, of which they really 
know nothing, when they wish to explain mysteri- 
ous things and they can think of nothing more 
plausible ? This is akin to the habit of attributing 
everything to God, of whom again nobody knows 
anything. No doubt it will be some centuries yet 
before the people — the great mass of people — 
come to see what a simple and natural phenomenon 
the Aurora Borealis actually is. Any one thing 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



11 



in this world is just as simple as another, if you 
only understand it. It is easy to do any trick — 
if you know how — and it is just as easy to lift a 
ton as it is to lift fifty pounds, if you only have 
the strength. There is no radical difference in 
things any way. 

Everybody knows that it is not such a great 
while since superstitious people were frightened 
at the appearance of an eclipse. Many nice, sensi- 
ble people to-day would not be one of a party of 
thirteen for anything! Something awful would 
be sure to happen, for thirteen is generally reck- 
oned to be a fatal number. To make the venture 
safe, great pains would always be taken to make 
the number either one more or one less — anything 
but thirteen ! Do you see ? 



The subject that gave me most 
The Rehgious concern a ft er reaching mature age, 

Question. 1 ° ° ' 

and even before, and to which I turned 
my most serious thoughts and devoted attention, 
was the religious question. Of course in my 
youth, like all good little boys, I took the course 
as it was served up to me. Literally, I swallowed 
everything that was set before me. I read my 
catechism, I learned verses in the Bible, I went to 
Sabbath School, as everybody that is anybody 
is supposed to do in his younger days. Indeed, I 
had the full benefit of religious instruction — there 
can be no question on that matter. I read Pil- 
grim's Progress, Baxter's Saint's Eest, and books 



12 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



of that order. They were in my father's library, 
and were almost the only books that I could find 
in the family mansion. Of course there was a 
Bible and a hymn book, but that is implied. I lis- 
tened to what the pastor said, and I remembered 
what my earnest Christian parents taught me. 
Pious people were quite common in those days — 
but that is a good many years ago. I really be- 
lieved there was a God — somewhere in the wilder- 
ness, or in the clouds above. I believed that he 
was good to good people and bad to the other kind 
always; and for that reason I uniformly tried to 
be as good as I possibly could be, under the cir- 
cumstances. I wanted to be on the safe side, and 
that is the natural desire of almost everybody, 
even at this late and very advanced period of the 
world. Nobody knows exactly what might hap- 
pen, especially when he reached the other side 
of Jordan. If he had an honorable discharge, he 
would naturally want to show it, and therefore he 
should have it with him. 

I do certainly think that religion 
^^ g y is a good thing, particularly for people 

in the early stages of their existence. 
After people pass their childhood days, perhaps it 
does not make so much difference. When people 
do not happen to know much, it is a good plan to 
place themselves under the protection and follow 
the guidance of some one who really does know 
something. But when people become older, and 
perhaps wiser withal, it is natural to begin to look 
around and see if they cannot find an opportunity 
to start business on their own account. That is 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



13 



the way I did, and I am willing to recommend the 
plan. Such a course is good for almost any one, 
especially one with an inquiring mind. There is 
nothing quite so nice as to have a will and a way 
of our own, even if there are some people with a 
will and a way that is presumably better than ours. 

However, it might be remembered, that when 
a person becomes older and feels strong enough to 
assert his manhood at all times, he will find that 
he has little use for either God or the Bible. 
They will not help him in an emergency to any 
great extent ; two or three thousand years ago they 
might, but we are speaking about matters in the 
twentieth century. We can find plenty of chances 
to help the Lord at any time, but when it comes to 
the question of the Lord's helping us in return, 
that is another thing entirely. I have heard a 
great deal about the Lord's helping people, but 
while I have lived to a good age, with quite a 
varied experience, I have never yet seen or heard 
of a single well authenticated case of the Lord's 
helping anybody. 

The old Romans had household 

Gods eh ° ld goc * s * n abidance (spelled with a 
small g), but they found them a great 
burden. They had to be fed, the gods did, and 
they had to be worshipped. They demanded a 
world of care and attention, often when it was 
quite inconvenient — and finally, wherever the 
family went, like Mary's lamb, the household gods 
were sure to go! This was merely a custom that 
prevailed two or three thousand years ago, and 
the people thought they were in duty bound to 



14 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



follow it to the letter. Like so many others, they 
wanted to be on the safe side, wherever that might 
be. But they made a great mistake and wasted 
a deal of time and patience — to say nothing of 
the animals slaughtered for the sacrifices. It is 
worthy of notice that people do not have any 
household gods now; they seldom or never read 
the Holy Book; they do not keep the fire burning 
on the family altar — in fact, they do not have 
any family altar to begin with. And yet, seem- 
ingly, things go along just as well as they did in 
old Roman times, when as history informs us, the 
people were abnormally devoted to the gods. 
They had the gods, as we have the poor, with them 
always. 

What is the use of worshipping 

Worshipping Qod and going tQ the Church> and 

making sacrifices daily, when evident- 
ly it is not productive of the slightest good? I do 
not see any use — though others may. However, 
that is exclusively their affair. I shall not under- 
take to dictate, should any question arise on this 
point. I like to see people have their own way. 
Indeed, I like to have my own way myself, occa- 
sionally at least. 

For many long years, both in 
R^ii^on 11 print and out of print, I have spoken 

very plainly and pertinently on this 
very important topic. I have uniformly spoken 
the truth on the subject, as I aim to do on all 
topics, and now when I am very near the close of 
a long life, I have not one word to retract nor 
any statement to modify of all that I have said or 



PERSONAL, AND PREFATORY 



15 



written in this connection. People cannot help 
what they believe, I admit that, and I am sure I 
cannot help what I believe. Of course, I am not 
certain that I am right on this matter, but I am 
as sure as I care to be. I have from my youth 
down to the present studied this question in all 
its bearings, and I have finally reached conclu- 
sions that satisfy me, if they do not satisfy any 
one else. 

I am glad to note that there has 
Remarkable been a remarkable change in the 

Change. . . 

sentiments of people within the last 
twenty-five years on this great problem of God, 
Christianity and the Bible. We have, it is true, 
the Bible still, but it is by no means the sacred 
book that it was formerly. It is not an inspired 
volume in any extraordinary or unnatural sense. 
A few people turn to it occasionally, and even 
then it is more for diversion than instruction. 
The Church has ceased to be the house of God, 
the holy temple. It has become a place merely of 
rest, recreation and enjoyment. The short ser- 
mon is eminently perfunctory; but usually the 
exercises are varied and interesting. Even the 
Sabbath can hardly be called the Lord's day, as 
things are now. The minister himself has to a 
certain extent been affected by the spirit of the 
age. His sermon is not only brief but harmless. 
He is careful uniformly to wound nobody's feel- 
ings. Things that were the burden of his prayer 
in other days are not even mentioned now. He 
sends nobody to Hell, and he turns no one from 
the Church door. He finds that the Church is in 



16 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



constant need of pecuniary assistance, and a small 
contribution from the heathen is just as accept- 
able as if it came from the hands of some profes- 
sing Christian. A moderate donation in the way 
of help to the Church is known to cover a multi- 
tude of sins. The subject of saving men's souls 
is one that is never mentioned, under the new or- 
der of things. Every man is expected to make his 
salvation his own private affair, and the idea un- 
doubtedly is a good one. But, really, what are 
churches for, under the new dispensation? 
This In this commercial age, when all 

commercial the interest there is in any project lies 
Age - in "what there is in it," people seem 

to find very little use for God. Naturally enough, 
the God of other days, whom our fathers knew 
and worshipped, is now very much out of date, 
and people are busy trying to hunt up some suit- 
able substitute. It is hard indeed for any peo- 
ple to get along for any great length of time with- 
out having some thing or some being to idolize. 
People, even grown people, always continue to be 
children on many points. They are of a very lov- 
ing disposition and they are most happy when 
they find something to embrace. The bump of 
reverence is the most important bump on most 
people's heads. They must have somebody to 
love and adore, somebody to fear, somebody to 
protect them, some one to lean upon for safety 
and support. 

No, people want a God — but it is 

Wanted a HeW ^ ev are after just 

now, a young God, a popular and tal- 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



17 



ented God, and a fashionable and up-to-date God 
withal. Of course people will be some little time 
looking after just such a God. There are not 
many in market. Ten chances to one, if the 
critics should happen to come across the right 
God, they would not be able to recognize him. 
People are so absurdly particular, and so very 
hard to suit! Old Eome, and old Greece, had 
gods (small g) by the thousands and thousands, 
but it is very doubtful if they had one who would 
meet the wishes of our church-goers at the present 
day. Even if we accepted a goddess in place of 
our Supreme Euler — Venus, Juno or Diana for in- 
stance — we do not believe it would be ten days 
before the Church would be clamoring for a di- 
vorce, on the ground of incompatibility of tem- 
per! Venus would be too handsome, Juno too 
much of a scold, Diana too fond of hunting, and 
so on throughout the list. It would not do at all 
to have a goddess. I apprehend things will set- 
tle down at last, and people will decide to keep 
the God they have, for some little time at least. 
Anti _ What is most remarkable about 

Religious this religious, or rather anti-religious, 
sentiment. movement to which we have been re- 
ferring, is that it is not confined to any one coun- 
try, though of course there is less of it to be no- 
ticed in Catholic and Mahometan countries than 
in others. There is a strong and rapidly increas- 
ing anti-religious sentiment in America, and one 
still stronger and much better developed in Ger- 
many. England is perhaps less inclined to be 
revolutionary on religious creeds than France, 



IS 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



but the English as a rule, since they abandoned 
Catholicism, have never seemed to take Christian- 
ity very seriously, especially for every-day use. 
As a rule, the English consider it a good idea to 
be enrolled on the books of the established church, 
not because it is the Lord's church, but because 
it is the King's church. In France, religious 
sentiment never gets far below the surface, and 
many of the best thinkers of the country have an 
idea that the best religion a man can have after 
all is simply no religion at all. For at least a 
hundred years or over, the people of France have 
not been noted by any means for their love of 
piety. 

In countries where people think 
German most, and where they are most in- 

Sentiment. 7 . J 

clmed to have views of their own, we 
shall always find the smallest evidence of a devo- 
tional spirit. This is especially true of the Ger- 
mans. In their country we find the greatest num- 
ber of industrious students and profound think- 
ers, and there, in Germany, we shall find infidelity 
in its most positive form. The Germans began 
long since to study the subject of religion from 
the standpoint of the critic — not as a source of re- 
demption or as a means of saving their souls, but 
as a natural growth and development which had 
its origin exclusively in the mind of man. If the 
reader is anxious to learn the most advanced 
views on the subject of religion, he would be most 
apt to find what he was searching for in some late 
German work like that of Hartmann. The Ger- 
mans take hold of a question of philosophy or his- 



PERSONAL. AND PREFATORY 



13 



tory as no other people do. They uniformly go 
to the bottom in their investigations, and the 
statements they make can be relied on. They 
take hold of a problem as if they are in earnest, 
and in order to reach the true solution, they spare 
neither time nor effort. 

The results attained by late German authors 
in the field of religious inquiry are quite remark- 
able, and they have attracted the attention of 
thinking men throughout the civilized world. 
That the trend of German thought is and long has 
been in the direction of unbelief, admits of no 
question. Even those Germans who keep up the 
form of religion do so in a half-hearted way that 
indicates unmistakably that they have no great 
interest in the business. They give to God a more 
ethereal or vapory character than formerly, and 
they are constantly removing him farther and far- 
ther from the abodes of man. To the Bible they 
give a new interpretation, and as a book it has 
come to be treated like any ordinary product of 
the human brain. 

In 1907, in order to ascertain 
^ 07 more definitely the sentiments of the 

leading German thinkers on this relig- 
ious problem, a circular was sent out with a set 
of questions formulated with a view to ascer- 
taining the position of these thinking men on the 
leading religious questions of the day. There 
were eighty answers received, and these were 
subsequently published in book form, under the 
title of "Beligious Instruction — Eighty opin- 
ions.' ' These thinkers were nearly unanimous in 



20 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

the opinion that Christianity had no claims to be- 
ing an ' ' absolute' ' religion. It is merely one of 
the creeds, among the many creeds of the day. 
According to the views of these men, Christ takes 
a place among the heroes, teachers and reformers 
of the world. They deny the claim that Christian- 
ity should be regarded as a religion of redemption. 
They discard the doctrines of Christian self-denial 
and self-sacrifice. In their opinion, the world 
should be taken as it is, and people must simply 
make the best of it. Instead of continually sacri- 
ficing for others, they believe that it is the best 
way for each one to sacrifice for himself. In their 
view, religion is not something to be taught and 
learned, but something to be felt and experienced. 
Finally, according to the replies under consid- 
eration, 44 The dogmas of Christianity are to a 
large extent a contradiction of the modern re- 
searches of natural science. ' ' 



Following a radical change in our religious 
belief, we must necessarily have a corresponding 
change on all other questions, and particularly in 
our views on social, moral and political problems. 
Religious belief is always fundamental. The be- 
lief which a man has formed in regard to God, 
Christ and the Bible, determines to a very large 
extent what he shall believe on other questions, 
especially those of a moral or political nature. 
If we believe in a God who is not only a father, 
but a lord over us, we should naturally carry out 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



21 



this idea of a master in all the affairs of life. 
And this is precisely what we have done. We 
have kings and rulers simply because we have a 
God. If God is a monarch, he must have instru- 
ments, he must have satraps and vicegerents, as 
kings always have, and such instruments are uni- 
formly ordinary men. 

People having lost their faith in 
Less Faith q q a as a master and protector, natu- 

in Kings. , r 

rally lose faith also m governors and 
kings. The divine right of masters is an idea 
that is pretty generally discarded now by intelli- 
gent men both in Europe and America. For many 
long years I have written and published against 
the right of any one man to be the master of other 
men under any possible conditions. I have denied 
not only the right of one man to rule another, but 
I also deny most emphatically any one's right to 
judge or condemn another; and likewise I deny 
his right to torture and punish another, whether 
in accordance with law or against law. I have no 
high regard for law in any form, no matter 
whence it emanates. An act may be legitimate, 
and still be decidedly improper. It is time for peo- 
ple to cease worshipping law, or those rather who 
make law for their own use and convenience. 
Law is simply the measure of some man's power, 
or of the power of some political party. It has 
nothing at all to do with right or justice in the 
yyroper sense of the terms. As a rule, in practice, 

the right of one man is the wrong of 
Tr !f ! some other man. What a farce is a 

trial in court, when we come to view 



22 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



it in the clear light, and are able to see and 
appreciate what it really means! What does 
it prove, when all is said and done? In such 
a trial, what is demonstrated as to the real wrongs 
or rights of either party? What we reach finally 
is the opinion of the court, and we get what fol- 
lows, the decision of the judge, or his sentence. 
I am glad to notice that the people very generally 
are coming to appreciate the enormity of court 
processes and court proceedings, no matter how 
legitimate or formal they may be, nor how regular 
or how orderly we may find the whole transaction. 

I am glad to know that the sun of 
erty Rising" l 1Der ty i s slowly rising upon the world 
at last, and to feel confident of the fact 
that governors and judges and sheriffs and execu- 
tioners will not always be tolerated among civil- 
ized and enlightened men, as they are to-day. 
Perhaps savages may be expected to kill and eat 
individuals of their own or some other race, but 
that is because they are both ignorant and hungry. 
No doubt, under the circumstances, we shall have 
to excuse them for such irregularities. However, 
from enlightened men, either with or without re- 
ligion, we have a right to expect better results. I 
am not particular as to whether they make a prac- 
tice of loving their neighbor or not. They cer- 
tainly ought to have a due and wholesome regard 
for their neighbor's feelings and rights at all 
times and under all conditions. On that ground 
I have long stood, and there I propose to stand 
at least a while longer. 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



2 3 



Next to the question of law and 

Question rriage g° vernmen t i n importance, is the ques- 
tion of marriage, an institution which 
the Church has long claimed as belonging exclu- 
sively to her own domain. The Church and the 
clergy have designedly given marriage such a di- 
vine or supernatural character as neither God 
nor man could ever have intended to give in the 
beginning. It has at last come to be believed, 
especially among those of our people who are quite 
susceptible, that one of the most important duties 
of the Lord is to hunt up couples and match them 
for matrimony. I am glad to notice, however, 
that there is a growing tendency just now, among 
sensible people, to divorce the church from all 
ordinary affairs of love, and the belief is coming 
to prevail that God properly has nothing more to 
do with matrimony than he has with ordinary 
kitchen work or that of the dairy. 

The question of marriage is one of supreme 
importance to all mankind, and there is no other 
problem to which time and study could be devoted 
with a better promise of results than the one 
which we have now under consideration. It is not 
a question as to what the Lord wishes, or what the 
Bible or the clergy declare, but what do sensible 
men say, and what are evidently the best inter- 
ests of mankind, not only for the present but for 
time to come ! In this case we have before us an 
ordinary business question and one just like any 
other important question in practical life. We 
want first of all to divest ourselves entirely of our 
prejudices and our preconceived notions. The 



24 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



past is gone beyond recovery — we are unable to 
mend that in any manner. Let us turn our 
thoughts and efforts to the present and inquire 
what it is best to do now. 



den and too violent are never productive of desir- 
able results. It is easy to tear down, but not so 
easy to build up. A bad system is generally bet- 
ter than no system at all. Nothing is usually 
more disastrous in its consequences than a chaotic 
state of affairs. What we want just now is not so 
much to have a change as to be in readiness for 
the change when it comes. Let us agitate and dis- 
cuss, and let us continue to agitate and discuss. 
What is wanted by the people, on this as well as 
upon other questions of reform, is more thought, 
more study, more inquiry, and more light Peo- 
ple always choose the right way as opposed to the 
wrong way, when their pathway is so well illu- 
minated as to enable them to determine unques- 
tionably whither their journey is leading them. 
Much has been effected by discussion already — 
very much more than might have been expected 
from the small amount of effort that has thus far 
been made. 



close of the last century. She is now conceded to 
have rights of her own. She is qualified to hold 
property in her own right; she has an opinion of 



Too Early 
to Solve. 



It is too early to undertake to 
solve this problem just at this mo- 
ment. Eevolutions that are too sud- 



Status of 
Woman. 



Woman, the married woman espe- 
cially, is not the helpless slave that she 
was found to be even as late as the 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



25 



her own, with permission to express it as she 
chooses. Above all, the right to earn her living 
in any of the ordinary walks of life, is now con- 
ceded to her. She is no longer the slave of any 
one necessarily. Instead of relying upon God or 
man for assistance, she is learning to depend upon 
her own intellect and her own strong arm. She 
does not as yet stand upon a plane quite as high as 
that upon which man is placed, but that is because 
her work is not yet completed. Lasting revolu- 
tions are never the work of a moment. It is some 
satisfaction to realize that woman does not need 
to get married now, unless she chooses; and after 
marriage she need not tolerate the brutalities of 
a husband simply because she must have a home. 
There is absolutely no reason why any woman 
should be denied a single privilege to-day that is 
usually accorded to man. 

To marry or not to marry, that is 
to Marry, indeed, the question, and one that I am 

or Not. ^ 7 

not prepared to answer without more 
time and more light than I have had thus far. I 
am quite certain that I should not be in a hurry 
about the matter, and in any event, I should never 
trouble a minister or justice of the peace with 
such an affair. I would save my money and dis- 
pense with services of that character. Marriage, 
I am sure, is exclusively a business matter, and 
the subject should always be so treated. There is 
nothing sacred or supernatural about the transac- 
tion. It is for all practical purposes a partner- 
ship matter, and the conditions should be such as 
to secure justice and fair treatment to the parties 



26 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



concerned. Marriage on any other basis than 
this will not be found conducive to the best inter- 
ests of society. 

There is no question at all that 

ment needed ^ ^ aS COme ^ or a readjustment 

and a radical change in the relations 
between the two sexes. We should follow nature 
and common sense and ignore the Jewish doc- 
trines of the Bible on this question. Let there 
be less love, less gallantry, less slavery for 
woman, and more justice and fairness, more that 
is rational and manly, on the part of man. When 
the complete emancipation of woman is once 
achieved, the marriage question will be settled 
for all time and in short order. Marriage as an 
institution will cease to exist; it is a custom that 
can be tolerated only so long as woman is con- 
tent to remain, as she so long has been, merely 
man's helpmeet and slave. We shall ultimately 
have, no doubt, something different, if not some- 
thing better in its stead. The world moves and 
times and customs change necessarily. As to 
love as we have it exemplified in this country, 
but as it is found in no other, either among sav- 
ages or the civilized, that is something that might 
be dispensed with to the advantage of both men 
and women. 

In concluding our remarks on 
Marriage t j^ s subject, one might remind the 

Customs. ? 7 . ° 

reader that marriage has not always 
been a religious institution, or even a state in- 
stitution. Among the Eomans, the agreement of 
the couple themselves was the only marriage con- 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



27 



dition. The introduction of the bride into the 
family of the husband was the concluding cere- 
mony. With the old Germans marriage was a 
civil contract. As a matter of history it is 
known that it was not until the twelfth century 
that marriage in Europe became characteris- 
tically a religious affair, and it was not until the 
fifteenth that the custom generally prevailed. It 
was a decree of the Council of Trent, Nov. 1563, 
that first established the doctrine formally and 
legally. 



For our next topic in this connec- 

Top* abor tion we win take up briefl y the sub " 

ject of Labor — its purposes and its 
uses in everyday life. In the Bible, as we all 
know, labor is condemned as a curse to man. 
But is it practically or necessarily a curse, or 
even an evil ? No, the Bible theory is wrong, and 
unfortunately this is not the only case where man 
has been misled by the false teachings of this re- 
markable volume. Labor is actually a blessing, 
unquestionably a blessing, and it should be so 
considered by the human race. Labor presents 
to man the only condition on which sound health 
can be maintained. Those who will not labor, or 
who will not take bodily exercise in some form, 
must not expect to live to a good age, or in any 
true sense to enjoy life. Moderate labor, when it 
is not converted into a task or burden, may, and 
often does, become actually a source of enjoy- 



2 8 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



ment. So far as the matter of fatigue is con- 
cerned, where is the essential difference between 
labor and play as a pastime ? 

It is well known that the primary condition 
on which society may continue to exist is that 
somebody must work — either father or somebody 
else, or both. Who shall it be! I have my own 
opinion on that matter, and I am willing that 
others shall have theirs. My humble opinion is, 
and long has been that any one in fair health who 
is too good to work is too good to live; and if 
that doctrine should ever come to prevail, the 
world would be happier than it is, and we should 
at once find an astonishing increase in the number 
of honest men and virtuous women. It is evident 
enough that nothing is accomplished in all this 
world without labor. In all countries where na- 
ture does most for man, it will be found that man 
does least for himself. For developing strength, 
nothing is so useful as resistance. 



Following the question of Labor 

^elith an< ^ comm & ^ n c l os e connection with 
it, is the question of Wealth. Are 
riches worth what they cost? Do they repay the 
labor and self-sacrifice that are required to secure 
them, and the care and worry that is implied in 
the effort to retain them? I should say emphati- 
cally and unquestionably, they do not. They are 
not a worthy object of ambition for any sensible 
and well intentioned man. The desire for riches, 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 29 

it is true, comes from a worthy source, from an 
appreciation of the value and uses of economy, 
from an understanding of the power of thrift, af- 
fording as this does the only security within the 
reach of mankind against want and dependence 
in the declining years of life. Wealth comes 
from saving, with the very best of motives in the 
first place, but it ultimately degenerates into a 
vice, a passion for gain and a desire for accumula- 
tion that at last becomes a form of insanity. Any 
virtue can be converted into a vice by carrying 
it to excess; food itself becomes a burden or a 
poison when swallowed voraciously or taken in 
quantities that surpass reasonable limits. 

The desire for the accumulation of wealth 
as it manifests itself at the present time in this 
country, is absurd in the extreme. The habit — 
for habit it certainly is — is not founded on reason. 
People do not pile up wealth because they imag- 
ine they shall need it, or because they ever ex- 
pect to use it in any worthy manner. They want 
it because they see others have wealth, and it is 
something, as they know, that is not easy to se- 
cure. The gaining of wealth appears to many 
people like a victory, an achievement. It seems 
to give them power. It does give them power. 
But it is power that is dearly bought; it always 
has to be surrendered in the end, for there is no 
record of a dying man ever being able to take a 
dollar with him at the close of his earthly career. 

And this estate that has been ac- 
inheritance. quired with so much of toil and sacri- 
fice, what finally becomes of it as an 



30 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

inheritance when the ancestor himself dies? He 
knew all along that he must die some day or other, 
and that nothing conld save him; his ducats could 
not, his summer homes, his yachts, his automo- 
biles, his fleet horses, and even his numerous 
wives or widows, could not rescue him! He de- 
parts never more to return. That is sad indeed. 
But really what becomes of the treasures that he 
leaves? They are gone, gone, no one knows ex- 
actly where — dissipated, dispersed, destroyed, 
thrown to the winds at last! That is the saddest 
part of the whole business, sadder yet than the 
departure of the fortune-founder himself. How 
trifling really was the value of all his gains ! He 
would have given them all for only a few days 
more, of life ! But it was too late — too late! There 
is no graft for Death. The departed might have 
lived longer, and better, but he preferred Wealth. 
Therein his fatal mistake was made. 

Under the most auspicious circumstances the 
inheritance goes to those who did not earn it — and 
to those, therefore, who did not deserve it. They 
take it, of course, because they are next of kin, but 
after all what has that to do with the question? 
Why would not the next of kin of somebody else 
do just as well, or better? No doubt somebody 
else would answer, but the law, having the sta- 
bility of government in view always, establishes 
a different practice. That is how it comes in all 
such cases. The law does it. Does the property 
of the deceased, or of the testator, usually go 
where he desired, or where he expected it would 
go? No, it is rare that it does. So, where can we 



PERSONAL. AND PREFATORY 



31 



find one sensible or substantial argument to en- 
courage people to accumulate property to be left 
behind them when they die? I never yet could 
see, and so I have never bothered my head with 
any unworthy ambition like this. 



We have noticed already the ef- 

Teachings ^ ec ^ °^ ^ ne Scriptures upon law, upon 
government, upon marriage, upon la- 
bor. Now let us dwell briefly upon the effect 
that Bible teachings have upon men in their neigh- 
borly relations with each other. Many who are 
not careful observers have come to regard the 
Bible as a book of love. And no doubt it does 
teach the doctrine of love, just such love as we 
find among men generally at the present day. 
There is nothing at all peculiar or anomalous 
about love as exemplified in our Bible. All over 
the world people like those who please them, and 
that is the kind of love that is taught in the Holy 
Book. We are not taught in this book to love 
others because we are good, but because they are 
good, and because their conduct and personal ap- 
pearance happen to strike us favorably. In the 
Bible and out of the Bible, we notice that men 
are loved because their faith is the faith of their 
friends ; or because all are members of one family, 
or they all belong to one coterie. That is the 
kind of love, it will be observed, that they had in 
Bible times and Bible lands; and they have pre- 
cisely the same kind of affection in every civilized 



82 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



section of the world at the present time. I am 
free to say I am not at all partial to that kind of 
sentiment. There is nothing strange or unusual 
about it, but society and law built upon such a 
foundation as that is like a house founded upon 
the sand. It cannot endure. 

I would still further urge that 
Love and \qyq in any form is an unsafe basis on 

Friendship. . . 

which to establish society. Love is 
something that is at all times capricious. It can- 
not be relied on — either the love of God, the love 
of friends, or the love of men and women gener- 
ally. Love at best is extremely fickle and selfish. 
People love us so long as we are able or inclined 
to contribute to their enjoyment, and not a mo- 
ment longer. Even God, our father, loves his 
children so long as they are obedient, and that is 
the way with loving fathers generally. Children 
that do not behave well are hated and discarded, 
not loved and cherished. So friendship is a very 
fine thing among people, so long as it lasts. But 
it does not last. — certainly not for any great 
length of time. Then, too, friendship, is such an 
expensive article! Our friends expect so much 
and demand so much of their friends ! And there 
is ordinarily, so little that they find an opportun- 
ity of doing in return. Of course, these are trifles 
and they should not be mentioned, among friends, 
and still they are just such things as people can- 
not help but mention, because, as I have remarked, 
people always expect so much of friends! What 
is the use of having a friend if he cannot or will 
not be ready to serve us when help is wanted? 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



33 



As already intimated, love and friendship 
are comfortable possessions, generally speaking, 
but they are found to cost so much when the books 
are closed and the balance is finally struck ! It is 
a safe, sensible and profitable thing to be on pleas- 
ant, neighborly terms with everybody — but right 
there is a good place to stop and consider. If you 
are the intimate friend of anybody, do not forget 
that you are mortgaged so long as the friendship 
lasts, and occasionally the obligation is found to 
last longer than the friendship. This happens 
when a man is called upon to pay a note that he 
endorsed, some time ago. just to please a friend. 



The idea of giving is closely 
Grvmg and allied with the idea of loving. Why 

Chanty. ° 

should anybody ever give anything 
to another ? There is no special reason why. but 
many people do not care to have a reason for all 
that they do. Why should we do anything for 
nothing, or anything without some occasion or 
motive? Sensible people seldom or never do. 
They always have a motive, some purpose, some 
object in view, even when they make presents to 
friends. Of course there is no harm in people's 
giving to anybody at any time, if they feel so dis- 
posed. But, really, is it sensible, is it profitable, 
is it prudent or polite ? My answer to this ques- 
tion is that it is neither polite nor profitable, and 
therefore it is not sensible. As a rule people al- 
ways count for little what costs them little, and 



34 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



ordinarily what costs nothing is worth nothing. 
The first impression is that, if what people had 
was worth anything, they would not be so foolish 
as to give it away. We appreciate things that 
cost us something — some toil, some study, some 
money. 

In most cases, the purpose of giv- 

The Motive • • • i , -i 

of Giving m £> 1S sim Pv to bribe m some way, 
either to induce the recipient to do 
what he has not done, or would not do, or to have 
him continue doing what he had done before. 
This is the way many people do, when they feel 
either very liberal or decidedly interested, or both ; 
but as a business investment, I should consider 
the action poor policy. It would seem to be the 
most sensible plan to pay what we agree to pay, 
or ought to pay, pay promptly, and stop there. 
There certainly can be no such thing as an obliga- 
tion to give. Where there is an obligation, it is not 
a giving, but simply a payment of what we owe. 
No, the only true giving is to be found where there 
is no duty to give, no need to give. There may 
be a fashion or custom to give, but fashion or cus- 
tom cannot create an obligation for me or any 
one else. Let those give who desire to give, and 
let them give what they wish to give. It is for 
each individual alone to say when he shall give, 
to whom he shall give, for what purpose, or 
whether he shall or shall not give at all. How in- 
tensely selfish it is, how contemptible, for people 
to be continually telling others what they ought to 
give ! Why are not they themselves the ones who 
should give! If they did their duty in giving, 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



35 



perhaps there would be no need of others giving. 
There is only one case where people can come for- 
ward with a proper appeal to give, and that is for 
charity. Even there it is for ourselves to say how 
much we shall give, or whether we shall or shall 
not give. Nobody has the right to lay down rules 
for other people to observe. It is well known that 
even charity suffers from great abuses. When 
we give to one, we often harm another. We cer- 
tainly often overlook another who is, no doubt, 
quite as deserving as the one favored. 

Above all, charity multiplies pau- 

Pauper S and P ers an( ^ encourages dependence upon 
others. People who have their living 
given them and a home furnished have no induce- 
ment to work for their subsistence, and they 
seldom do. Why should they continue to toil, 
when the best of people get at most merely a liv- 
ing! The idea of giving, like that of sacrificing, 
comes largely from the Bible, and the duty in one 
case is no greater than it is in another. We are 
told to give to the Lord, but does the Lord ever 
see or hear of the donation? No, it usually falls 
into the hands of the priests whose business it is 
to represent the Lord, especially in cases like this 
where there is something to receive and enjoy. 
Even charitable gifts often fail to reach the des- 
tination for which they were intended. 



We will close this part of the 
Phrasis. work with a reference to some of the 
important teachings of Phrasis, a book 



36 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

which appeared in 1864 and which presents a 
comparative view of the different languages of 
the world. The problems in philology which are 
considered in this work were attracting at that 
time a great deal of attention not only in Europe, 
in Germany in particular, but also among the lin- 
guists of America. But for some reason, interest 
in this science for the last twenty-five years has 
been very much on the decline, and at this moment 
there are few signs of an early revival. It was 
from lack of encouragement that this study was 
finally abandoned by the author, and his efforts 
have latterly been turned to questions that inter- 
ested him in other departments of literature — very 
much, it should be added, to his regret. He had 
given long years of study to this subject, and 
after a time, with the expenditure of large sums 
of money in securing the books needed in such an 
enterprise, to say nothing of repeated travels 
abroad, he had become acquainted with the struc- 
ture of practically all the languages of Europe, to- 
gether with the best known and most important 
languages of both Africa and Asia. 

There is a great charm in such an investiga- 
tion properly conducted, and I have never yet 
found any other literary work that was equally 
fascinating. But I never like to carry coals to 
Newcastle, nor would I for one moment urge the 
public to pursue inquiries which I happen to prize 
highly, but in which the people themselves do not 
seem to have any special concern. I have always 
considered it to be tiresome work to undertake 
either to lead or mislead the masses. 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



37 



The conception of language which 

New Views j haye f ormed after much study is 
of Language. 

very different from the theory which 
prevails on this subject at the present day among 
literary men generally. I regard language as an 
instrument in the hands of man; but it was not a 
contrivance, nor a construction in any true sense 
of the word. It was not even a discovery. I ven- 
ture to say no two or a dozen men, whether wise 
or not wise, ever assembled together or sat down 
with the design of constructing or contriving a 
language in any manner. Nothing that was last- 
ing was ever reared in any such way. Society 
certainly was not thus produced; neither was it 
so with art, science, law, government or the 
church. All things grow, slowly, steadily grow; 
and so does language grow to-day, as it has done 
in the past all along. 

Philologists generally have an idea that lan- 
guage is made up of words, while according to 
Phrasis the sentence is the unit. A sentence rep- 
resents a thought, an idea; but a word represents 
nothing, being simply a shadow of what exists in 
the mind of man. It is a very great mistake to 
imagine for a moment that words express 
thoughts or ideas. A nod, or a shake of the head 
expresses full as much as ' ' yes 9 9 or 6 ' no. 1 ' Words 
are usually considered by philologists to be the 
substance of language, when in fact they are 
merely the scaffolding put up to enable men to 
carry on the operation of thinking, just as letters 
in algebra, figures in arithmetic and lines in geo- 
metry are used to aid in carrying on the process of 



3 8 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



reasoning and calculation. A sculptured idol or a 
painted Madonna is not at all different in charac- 
ter or service from the word signs that we have 
just been considering. The idol is not the god, 
the picture is not the Madonna, and the word is 
in no sense the object which it is supposed to rep- 
resent. Besides, there is absolutely no connection 
or relation in any case between the sign and the 
thing signified. What real meaning can there be 
in the dots and short lines of a telegram? As 
much as there is in letters, and no more. What 
stands for a word is always a mere sign. 

We must bear in mind that the 
written spoken word comes before the written 

Words. ± 

or printed word. Written words 
change in order to have the form correspond with 
any alterations that may be made in the utterance 
of the spoken word. This is one of the reasons 
why written words change their form, but there 
is a host of other reasons, some of which we know, 
while others are concealed from our view. One of 
the leading reasons why words are uttered differ- 
ently, not only by those of different races but by 
two persons of the same race, lies in the difference 
in temperament, and especially in the vocal 
organs. As a matter of fact no two persons speak 
the same words in exactly the same manner, or 
with the same intonation. A child has one way, 
a colored person, especially in the south, has an- 
other way; and of course a foreigner always 
speaks our language with an accent, or modula- 
tion, that is more or less peculiar. Considering 
all the circumstances, it is impossible that the case 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



3 9 



should be otherwise. People using the same lan- 
guage often give a strange twist to their words, or 
utter them with a snap or jerk, or a lisp, a drawl, 
or a sigh. Some convert ordinary words of three 
syllables into words of one or two, while others 
again extend one or two syllables to three. Some 
people sing when they talk, as others talk when 
they sing. No two people sing alike. Why 
should they speak the language alike I As a mat- 
ter of fact they never do. No two people paint 
alike; no two ever do anything just alike. It 
would be quite impossible. It is not at all strange 
that there is so much variety in language. It is 
not only natural but absolutely necessary. A 
child says "up," "up," for "take me up," and 
"hungy," for "I am hungry," suppressing as 
superfluous, or ignoring, many accompanying 
words that we uniformly use. The Chinese, with 
their child language, express themselves in a simi- 
lar way. Very much of the expression of a sen- 
tence with us falls upon the emphasized word. 

A very large portion of the 
changes for ofaajiges made in the forms of words, 

Harmony. ° 7 

especially in certain languages like 
the Greek, and more or less in all languages, is on 
account of harmony, smoothness or euphony. 
Meaningless words, expletives, are thrown in, 
syllables are added or suppressed, and words are 
clipped or abbreviated, simply to promote smooth- 
ness and render sounds pleasing to the ear. 
Many people of our own country cannot sound 
the letters of the alpabet as the majority of peo- 
ple do, the trouble lying usually in the throat, or 



40 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

the vocal organs, but sometimes in the nasal organ 
or the tongue. When we come to compare our- 
selves with people of different races, we find there 
are letters in their alphabet that we cannot possi- 
bly sound properly, just as there are letters in our 
alphabet that they cannot by any effort render 
satisfactorily. Many people cannot sound th in 
this; a Frenchman says zis; a German says dos, or 
das, for that, and de, for the, ding, for thing, and he 
rarely learns to say it otherwise. That is his way. 
To foreigners generally, our which and whom, and 
words of that character, are absolutely impossi- 
ble. There is nothing of the kind in their tongue. 
On the other hand an American finds it difficult, 
and often impossible, to sound the German ac- 
cented 6 and ii, or the ordinary u of French. Then 
there are the German eu, French oi, German ch, 
in nacht, or g in tag, or French eu, en, an, and eil. 
Foreigners usually cannot sound our r properly, 
and I is often substituted. The Chinese say Mel- 
iken man for American. The Mohawks have 
no dentals, and in Hawaii steel is sounded kyla. 
Then, again, fancy or custom is the cause of many 
changes that are found in language. An English- 
man puts an h where we omit it, and suppresses 
it where we use it, merely because he is an Eng- 
lishman and he likes that way. Of course there 
is no value in the h, and whether it is used or 
omitted is a matter of no moment. So the Latins 
say sonus for sound, and nomen for name, be- 
cause that happens to be the Roman way. The 
Kaffirs in adopting foreign words, add their own 
prefixes to meet their wants or wishes, as igolida 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



41 



for gold, ibere, for bear, umperisite for priest; the 
Chinese have Eulopa for Europe. So the French 
have pere, Latin pater, for our father. Other peo- 
ple say eschola for school, yspryol for spirit, and esperer 
for Latin sperare. 

There is a tendency in language 
changes ^ wor( j s ^ assume a slight change 

of Words. . 

m form to correspond with the new 
tone or the new application of the word. Thus, we 
have prem-ise for premise, read present, and read past, 
lead and led, come and came, sit and set, lie, lay, and 
place, Latin jaceo, to lie, and jacio, and jacto, to cause 
to lie, to cast or throw; Latin clamo, to cry and cla- 
mito, to cry frequently, cano, to sing, and canto, to 
sing, chant; capio, to catch, hold, capax, adj., holding, 
capacious, also capesso, to seize eagerly; capra, a goat, 
and capella, a little goat; also adjectives from 
nouns as capitalis, capital, from caput, a head. 

We may note here, as we shall 

Element see more c l ear ty as we proceed with 
our comparison of words, that no new 
element is added, affixed or inserted in any of the 
words that we have thus far given as examples. 
All related words are modifications of one and the 
same word, as capitalis, is only a form or devel- 
opment of Latin caput, and jacto, to throw, is only 
a form either of jaceo, to lie, or jacio, to throw. 
So in our names John and Johnnie, sis and sissie 
and sister, cat and kittie. The best illustration 
of the manner in which words grow, or change 
their forms without taking on any new addition, 
may be found in the proper name Elizabeth and 
its modifications: Eliza, Elsie, Liz, Lizzie, Lib f Libbie, 



42 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

Isabella, Belle, Beth, Bep, Bets, Betsy. So also Rob, 
Robert, Bob; Sarah, Satie, Sally, Sadie; Margaret, Meg, 
Madge, Meta, Reta, Peg, Peggy, Gret, Greta, Grettie, 
No one suspects for a moment that these related 
words are not all forms of one and the same thing. 
No one thinks that Liz or Lib is in any way less 
than Eliza or Elizabeth. It is evident enough that 
the letters of a word never constitute the word 
itself. Just so what we call the deceased is not 
really he but his remains. 

The tendency of words to change their forms 
slightly to correspond with some difference in 
meaning or application, is most strikingly ex- 
emplified in the case, gender and number endings 
of nouns, and in the tense forms and person end- 
ings of verbs. That all these changes are identi- 
cal in character with those that we have just been 
noticing in other departments of language, is 
something that is beyond all doubt. In all these 
cases there is a modification in the form of the 
word without anything new being either added 
or taken away. There are fewer of these changes 
in case and tense endings in English than in any 
other language in Europe. Even our near rela- 
tives, the German people, have many endings that 
we have not. We have only a few scattered rem- 
nants of endings, such as the possessive case and 
the plural ending, which, by the way, have one 
and the same origin. We have no such feature 
as adjectives agreeing with the noun, as we find 
to be so noticeable, and often so embarrassing, in 
the other languages of Europe. 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



43 



What we do find in English that 
Y° rd is worthy of notice is the change in 

the endings of nouns and adjectives 
when they come to fill a new place or perform 
a new function, as in grievous from grief; newness , 
from new; wisdom, wisely, from wise; dental, from 
Latin dens; oaken, from oak; contrivance, contriver, 
contriving, contrivement, contrivable, all being forms of 
contrive. All these endings, and many more of a 
similar character in other words, are mere vari- 
ations of the Latin participle or gerund ending 
-end, -and, -ant, -ent, -ans, -ens. They add nothing 
to the meaning and they can be suppressed with- 
out loss or detriment at any time. What we call 
a contrivance, or a contriving, we might quite as 
well call a contrive; and so we might as well say 
' i he walk slow and easy" as to say "he walks 
slowly and easily." Plain and simple people use 
very few superfluous endings. 

We come now to verbs. Their 
verb forms, multitudinous forms as they are given 

in the paradigms which are shown in 
Latin and Greek grammars present a formidable 
array, and yet when we come to understand the 
matter fully, we shall find that all the various 
forms, of amo, for instance, are mere modifica- 
tions of one and the same root. According to the 
theory advanced in Phrasis, the present tense is 
based on the gerund or present participle; all 
there is of the six person forms, amo, amas, amat, 
amamus, amatis, amant, is simply the form amand- 
um or amant-is, with variations. The present 
tense in full would be / am loving, or at loving, or 



44 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

a loving, — the am, is, and are being suppressed, and 
thus leaving the amand or amant to go on with its 
development. On this theory, the case endings 
and the person endings are in their origin identi- 
cal. All that we have in English of the six person 
forms of Latin is lov-eth, and this form is becom- 
ing obsolete. This eth, is clearly a modification 
of and, end, the mark of the verbal noun. 

The tense forms of Latin and Greek are 
doubtless mere variations of such bases as aman- 
dum, amatus. In English and German it is quite 
evident that the past tense is simply the past 
participle, based on the form have loved, the have 
being finally suppressed. In German it is quite 
common to say / sung, for / have sung, I come, for 
/ have come, and occasionally the same thing is 
noticed in English. 

Here quite as well as elsewhere, perhaps, we 
may dwell briefly upon expletives, words thrown 
in either to give a smoother and more pleasing 
sound, or to keep in accord with the law and the 
fashion. Many words are pure expletives that are 
not usually considered to be such, as it and there, 
in it is, there is. They have no meaning, no force 
whatever. The same view may be taken of most 
prepositions and conjunctions, and likewise of 
many adverbs and pronouns, as, in vain, at once, 
at least, a going, a fishing, a walking, to walk, to work, 
at work, a-bed, to bed, alike, German zu-gleich, French 
de nouveau, a-new, at home, for home; in the night, 
German nachts, morgends, in the morning. In all these 
and similar cases, the meaning lies wholly in 
the base word, and the preposition or participle 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



4 5 



is practically without significance. The articles 
a and the are really meaningless particles, like 
the to of our infinitives. We notice this fact more 
particularly in such expressions as the more, the 
less. We might add that our the, our to of infini- 
tives and de of French are identical words, and 
they are often used for each other. The Greek 
to loipon, the rest, and to prin, formerly, ta prota, first, 
are illustrations of the same truth. 

Quite akin to the meaningless 
to^verbs prepositions and particles that we 
have just been considering are the 
prefixes to verbs, and to other words, which are 
found so generally in different languages, as in 
extract, contract, attract, retract, detract, subtract; collect, 
recollect, colleague, elect, select, all of Latin origin. It 
has generally been supposed that in all such cases 
prepositions or prefixes have in some way and 
for some purpose, been tacked upon the main 
word. But in Phrasis a different view of the mat- 
ter is taken. These prefixes are uniformly with- 
out any real significance; in many cases the pre- 
fixes can be suppressed without any detriment 
so far as the meaning of the word or the sentence 
is concerned. There is no appreciable difference 
between agone and gone, alive and live, apart and 
part; Latin advenire is not different from venire and 
German zuconwien is the same as our come; French 
partir is same as our depart, esquire, is same as squire, 
and establish is the same as stablish; Latin pervado, 
evado, is same as our wade, and Latin perturbo is the 
same as turbo, our disturb; strip equals unstrip, sever 
equals dissever; persuade and dissuade are not different 



46 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



and Latin traho is same as extraho. We have mand- 
merit, and com-mandment, Latin stinguo, extinguish, laud 
and applaud, and so on indefinitely. 

There is no question that all these 
ah Prefixes p re fi xes [ n a u languages are mere 

Growths. , 

growths, a sort or reduplication, of the 
initial letters of the main word. The form of the 
prefix, being as it is a mere development of initial 
letters, is governed largely by the laws of euphony. 
So suppress becomes suppress, and evince and evolve 
take the place of exvince and exvolve. It will 
be observed that with the change in the pre- 
fix there usually goes a shade of difference in 
meaning, as in impel, expel, repel, but the funda- 
mental idea remains the same in all. It is merely 
a driving. So in oppress, suppress, express, impress, 
depress, it is simply a matter of pressure clear 
through. The meaning of a word does not change 
because of the prefix, but it is quite possi- 
ble that the prefix may change because of a varia- 
tion in the meaning of the base word. It is pos- 
sible also that these prefixes may be thrown off 
from the parent stem and become separate words, 
as in the case of the German and English to of 
infinitives and ex of the Latin prefixes. 

A variation of the prefixes that we 
Augments. have under consideration is found in 

what is called the augment of verbs, 
as the e of the Greek past, which is found also in 
Sanscrit and Armenian. There is also the redu- 
plicated initial which serves as a sign of the per- 
fect in Greek, Gothic and Latin. This prefix e of 
the Greek past, as in eleipon I left, is an ordinary 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



47 



case of initial change made to serve a special pur- 
pose, as we often find in different languages. It 
is no doubt akin to the German ge, gi, g, which is 
the well known mark of the past participle, as 
geschlagen, from schlagen, to slay, strike. This ge, g, 
e, a, is often used in other places and for other 
purposes, just as we find to be the case with 
the augment e. The German introduced his ge 
before the participle, just as we use to before the 
infinitive, because that is his way. He does so 
for the very reason that the Englishman uses an 
h where we do not, merely because it is his way 
and it meets his fancy. He might dispense with 
it, but he would not be English if he did so. The 
a, the ge, the g, like the h, are all mere breathings. 

We have noticed that certain races use an e 
or a as a sign of the past tense, though they also 
use the same letter for other purposes, and the 
Germans use ge, g, gi, chi, i as a prefix marking 
the past participle as well as occasionally for the 
past tense. So the Semitic languages have sev- 
eral prefixes and particles for their verbs and 
verbals. In Persian the prefix b e is the sign of 
the future. The Celtic people have several spe- 
cial words which they use with their verbs. Thus 
the Irish use do, our to, as a sign of the past, and a 
is sometimes used for the same purpose. The 
Slavic races very generally use prefixes to verbs 
to indicate past time or completed action. The 
Old Germans in the Middle Ages used do and der 
to form the past, as der sprach, spoke, der mach, 
made. Our there was is the same thing. Using 
prefixes, or breathings, is quite an arbitrary mat- 



48 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



ter. Some races employ them, and others dis- 
pense with them. That is all there is of the prac- 
tice. It is just as it is in painting houses, some 
prefer one color and others another color, and yet 
any one color is as correct as any other. In ex- 
treme cases, the house can go without painting. 

Of the reduplication, a prefix 
which characterizes the Greek perfect, 

cation. x 7 

as well as a few verbs in Latin, there 
is little further to be said. It is merely one of the 
ways of developing a prefix, and it does not rep- 
resent any new element or any addition. This 
feature is found in Gothic, and we see the same 
principle at work in other tongues. 

We will conclude this part of the 
Compared subject by comparing a few words 

taken from our own and other lan- 
guages with a view to showing some of the im- 
portant changes that occur in the development of 
words, and also to indicate the direction taken 
by the thoughts of those who make use of words 
in language. We will take our leave, left, let. In 
Greek it is leipo, Latin linquo, re-linquo, our relic, 
relict, derelict — having the meaning of leave, de- 
part, to be left, forsaken, also to be wanting or de- 
ficient. It is placed before other words to indicate 
want, as leip-ouros, without tail, or short-tailed. 
The Greek has another form, Uibo, to pour, to let 
fall, flow, also to weep, to let fall or shed (tears 
implied). The Latin has the same word, with 
the same application, fleo to weep, and plow, im- 
plore, another form, to call with tears. Then there 
is the other form fluo, to flow, pluo, to rain, to let 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 49 

pour. The Latin pterins, full, Greek pleos and 
polus, much, also pleo, to sail, swim, fluctuate and 
Latin fluctus, a wave, all belong under the head 
of flowing, or pouring. Our fluid, liquid (to leave), 
meaning to flow, belong to the same class. 

The root leave, left, let, has its relatives in 
German, as in bleiben, to leave, to let remain, our 
believe, German glauben, faith, believe, also belau- 
ben, to leaf or leave out. Then there is the Ger- 
man erlauben, to let, leave, permit, allow, German 
urlauben, furlough, allow, leave (of absence). Leave, 
to let remain, to let, to permit, are closely related. 

Then there is the German laufen, (au like ou 
in our), to run, loaf, leave, to leap, gallop or lope, 
and elope. Also German loben, to praise, our laud 
and applaud, French louer, to let, to hire, French 
laisser, permit, German lassen, to let. We say let 
a house, just as the French do. So we say by 
your leave, your letting, your permission. Our 
allow, French louer, means to approve, justify, 
hence to love and praise. Going out from the Ger- 
man loben, to praise, laud, there is another group. 
To praise implies price, prize, appraise, love, Ger- 
man lieben, Latin libet and lubet, love. Praise and 
price, also prize, are identical words; so is ap- 
praise and precious. This carries us apparent- 
ly from leave, let, Greek leipo, and still we are 
within the class or group which includes those 
words or ideas. It could also be shown that flower, 
foliage, bloom, flourish, and the like, belong to the 
same class — and doubtless there are many others. 

We will notice, very briefly, one more inter- 
esting group. The root as it appears in Sanscrit 



50 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

is vah, the idea of which is to wag, move, 
shake, German bewegen to move, Latin veho, to 
carry, make go, our wag, wagon, wiggle, waggle, also 
vehicle and weigh. The idea of weigh is to lift, 
to make rise; German wiege, a cradle, has the 
idea of rock, shake. The Anglo Saxon wegan of 
the same family means to carry, to bear; to weigh 
anchor is to lift anchor; German wiegen to move 
gently. Old High German wegan meant to carry 
and weigh, German weg, Latin via, our way, is German 
wegen, bewegen, to move, make go. Greek ocheo, to 
carry, belongs to same group. There are also con- 
vey, con-vex, con-voy, to be mentioned in this con- 
nection. 

In connection with the views of 
om English, language already presented, a small 
amount of space may be given to ad- 
vantage to certain features of the Old English 
and Anglo-Saxon as these tongues were spoken 
and written several centuries since. We will find 
many illustrations there to support the writer in 
the positions taken in other portions of this work. 

The definite article as it appears in Anglo- 
Saxon, which is really a form of old English, will 
be found very instructive, especially in connection 
with certain points that we have been noticing. 
The article the in its different genders and cases, 
has the following forms among others : se and seo 
(identical with our she), thaet (that), tham (them), 
thaes (these), tha (they), thaere (their, there). When 
we come to pronouns, we find ure (our), uncer, 
(German uns, English us), eow, (you): also hit (it), 
heo (she), hire (her), hi (they), hira (their). It is clear 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



51 



from these examples, and from like evidences in 
other languages, that our he, she, German sie, the, this, 
that, these, them, then, than, thence, and a host of 
other words like them, are modifications of one 
root, which like all roots, is of course imaginary, 
Again, the forms beginning with wh are further 
modifications of the same root, as, who, when, whence, 
whether, what, which (German welcher), also how, here, 
why, such, (German solcher), same, self, etc. 

In verbs we find the same phenomenon pre- 
sented. It is an undoubted fact that is, was, are, 
be, been, are all variations of one and the same 
word. We say / am, while in Swedish it is / are, 
he are (ar). The Anglo Saxons said I were, he 
were, which is only a form of German werde, mean- 
ing are, am, or become. So also we find in this 
tongue gan and gangen (German gehen, English 
gone), for go; geseon (English seen) with prefix ge 
for see; gescrifan (German schreiben, geschrieben, Latin 
scribo, English shrive, and scrivener, to write, with 
prefix ge; to slupan, to loosen, lose, (German schliessen), 
English loose, lose and close, Greek kleio, Latin 
claudo, English inclose, exclude, key, lock, Latin clavis, 
meaning to close or shut. It will be noticed that 
there is no essential difference between inclose and 
exclude. One means to shut in and the other to 
shut out. 

In the Anglo Saxon again, we find 
Forms SaX ° n baeftan, our abaft, and baft, after, without 
prefix a; also aright for right, gebaeck for 
aback, genog for enough, with prefix ge for e; toforan for 
before, ongen for against, ymbutan for about; and long and 
gelong for along; to-geanes for against, iborn for born, 



52 



NEW VIEWS ON ODD SUBJECTS 



(German geboren), on morgen (morning), in the morning 
(German morgend). It is well to note that in this 
tongue, the prefixes — a-, be-, hi-, for-, ge-,on-, to-,— may 
all be used indifferently and interchangeably for 
each other as prefixes to verbs and verbals, show- 
ing clearly that they do not enter into the meaning 
of words. This same fact may be noticed in the 
prefixes of other tongues. They are chiefly 
euphonic in their character and office. 

To show how the forms of a word 
witan Sax ° n m &y be multiplied indefinitely, by de- 
velopment, we may take the Anglo 
Saxon witan, to know. Among its changes are the 
following: Wita, wise; gewita, conscious, knowing; 
gewitan, to understand; witegian, to prophesy; witig, 
wise, knowing; gewitleas, witless, foolish; gewitness, 
witness; witol, knowing; witigdom, wisdom; witodlic, 
to wit ; wittiglice wittingly — all of these being vari- 
ations of one and the same root, imaginary as it is. 

In old English we find to don evil, for to do 
evil, also gon they, for 'go they; sone forgete, for soon 
forgotten; y-clothed, for clad; y-bounde, for bound; 
y-bake, for baked; y-bild, for built ; it longeth not, for 
belongeth not ; were knowe, for were known. 

In closing my remarks on this subject, it has 
seemed to me that at least a portion of my readers 
would be pleased to have these inquiries extended 
a few pages farther, especially if a new direction 
is taken and certain important features of lan- 
guage are presented in a new light. 

One Word ^ ma ^ n0 ^ ^ e am ^ ss to no ^ e ^ n ^ ne 

never from beginning that, properly speaking, one 
Another. word does not come from another, nor 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



53 



do the two have any relation whatever. Words, 
like other things, have an independent existence, 
if they have any at all. One word is not in any 
true sense an abbreviation of another; there are 
really no abbreviated things in this world, no new 
things that arise from an abbreviation at any time 
and in any manner. Fred is a name by itself, the 
same as Frederick is, and the same is true of Tom 
and Thomas, Harry and Henry, Bill and William, 
Ben and Benjamin. If Tom were really Thomas 
shortened, what would become of Thomas himself? 
One word may suggest another, as one style may 
suggest another style more or less varied, but in- 
dependence and identity can never be lost in any 
instance. 

Words usually are properly 
Metaphors metaphors, the application being 
made because of some fancied resem- 
blance in all cases. We say the stream runs, as 
an animal runs, the waters leap^ as a lion leaps, 
the waves roll, as the ball rolls, the trees rock, 
as the cradle rocks, the storm rages, as the mad- 
man rages. And yet we know very well that the 
stream does not run, the waters do not leap, the 
waves do not roll, the trees do not rock, and the 
storm does not rage. It is poetical license alone 
that can excuse the use of such expressions as 
these. 

There is a fashion in words as 
Fashion there is in dress. We select our 

in Words. 

words as we do our garments, largely 
as a matter of fashion or custom. Of course we 
often follow preference or fancy. Still oftener 



54 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



we choose the wrong word for the reason that we 
do not know the right one. But in no case are we 
obliged to use any particular word in any particu- 
lar instance. We can call a man small, mean, vile, 
low, base, a rascal, a villain, a scoundrel, or any- 
thing else that suits our taste or fancy. To the 
man to whom the epithets are applied it makes no 
difference what he is called. He remains pre- 
cisely the same with or without the words. In 
every case where a word is used some other might 
be applied. It is all a matter of fashion or educa- 
tion. There is no written law either on ortho- 
graphy, or pronunciation, or on the application of 
words. What is to hinder people from having 
their own way in such matters? 

Words are constantly coming to 
^ ew . have a new signification, because they 

Meanings. ° 7 J 

are used in new places, with new ap- 
plications. In Europe our corn, is used for grain 
generally, and so our hound, German hund, applies 
to dogs as a species. Very often words become 
obsolete from superannuation, or some other 
cause. For all pratical purposes they die and are 
forgotten. But the births in language are more 
numerous than the deaths, and so our vocabulary 
is expanding at a great rate. There is no mistake 
about it, language grows, as other things grow. 
A very good word frequently comes to have a bad 
reputation, and nobody will have it in the family; 
and sometimes a word is in use among one set or 
race of people, while it is discarded or tabooed 
among others. The English, for instance, use 
many words in conversation freely that would be 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



5 5 



heard among us only in whispers, if heard at all. 
Our Holy Bible is loaded down with naughty 
words, and naughty insinuations, that would not 
be heard to-day in polite society anywhere in 
America. It is just as you happen to look at such 
things; or rather as you have been educated. 
There is no law that settles such questions of pro- 
priety as these — and there never ought to be. 
Laws never settle anything that was not settled 
in the first place. 

But really is there no such thing as virtue, 
goodness, or propriety ? No, indeed, there is noth- 
ing that seems to be settled in that line, because 
there is no person and no power that is qualified 
to settle it. Those who wrote the Bible tried, but 
failed most emphatically. There is nothing to de- 
cide all such questions but custom, fashion — with 
ordinary common sense. What we call good is 
good, and of course everything else is bad, be- 
cause by implication we call it bad. With us 
everything in which we are concerned must be, 
and is, either one thing or the other, good or bad, 
true or untrue. 

The history and career of words 
words * s ^ e n i s ^ or y an d career of everything 
else. Words are perishable. All we 
see of them is the evidences they leave. We never 
see them or know them by themselves. They come 
and they go; they are here to-day and absent to- 
morrow. We may remember them for a brief 
time, but they are sure to be forgotten and un- 
known a short time hence. Men lose their interest 
in words, as they do in other things, because they 



56 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



have ceased to be of use to them. It is new things 
always that command their attention. Why should 
words be remembered ? They leave nothing tangi- 
ble. What is a word at best! Only a scrawl on 
paper, or perhaps a fleeting sound of the human 
voice. We call this the word, but it is not the 
word itself. It is merely the sign of a word, some- 
thing to awaken thought and move to action. So 
it is with all things; so it is with man himself. 
What is laid away in the grave is not the dear one 
whom we loved in life. That much we know. But 
where is the personality that we formerly knew? 
What is it now! That is another question. It is 
quite beyond our sphere. It is not the place here 
to consider the problem, even if we had the ability 
and the inclination. It is with persons as it is with 
things. We know of them, but we never know 
them, not fully and truly. We never really know 
ourself. If we did, we should undoubtedly do 
better than we do. 

words and A word is in realit y a P ure hiero- 

Hiero- glyphic, a sort of mnemonic to re- 

giypnics. mind one of something that is de- 
sired to be recalled to mind. It is in no sense 
a likeness or copy, yet things are recalled by 
it as they are by pictures and sketches. It may 
be noted that a translation, no matter how faith- 
ful, is never a copy. The original and the trans- 
lation are always two independent productions, 
and usually they are very much unlike each other. 

It is a curious fact that we always 

Swords define words by P arallelin g them with 
some other word quite different from 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



57 



themselves. Indeed, if we used some identical or 
closely related word, how much wiser would peo- 
ple be ? And yet how can any word mean the same 
as an entirely different word! Are there any two 
words that are properly synonymous? There are 
no identities in trees, or houses, or horses, and I 
venture to assert there are none in the case of 
words. A word cannot change its nature, even 
for one moment, by any feat of legerdemain. Two 
different words could not by any possibility have 
the same meaning without being one and the same 
word. However, one word may be used in place of 
another word; it may have, through metaphor, a 
new application. 

Words get their meaning, it will be remem- 
bered, chiefly from association and context, though 
much depends upon the reader or interpreter, no 
two persons giving exactly the same meaning to 
the same word. It is surprising that intelligent 
and reflecting men should persist in saying that 
words have a distinct meaning of their own. It 
is time that the public should have correct notions 
on this as well as some other subjects. Our pon- 
derous dictionaries are filled with what are sup- 
posed to be definitions, but which properly consid- 
ered are not definitions. Taken alone the best of 
our dictionaries afford but little assistance in de- 
fining words. When words are supposed to mean 
so many different things, how shall we determine 
which one is the real meaning? The decision is 
finally left to the inquirer himself, who is allowed 
to take his choice. We never get anything better 
than an approximation. 



68 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

As a people we are altogether too careless and 
indifferent in the nse of language. As Bousseau 
aptly and forcibly expresses it: "Words," "yet 
words," "always words"! This remark applies 
especially to our schools. Pupils learn words, and 
usually but little more. What the words really 
mean, how many readers ever know 1 How should 
children know, when even our most intelligent men 
and women do not know? But how should we 
expect anything but confusion, when nothing is 
really determinable, and when words are always 
defined or described by referring them to some- 
thing entirely different and distinct from them- 
selves? What the reader should be able to learn 
from the dictionaries is what a word means in a 
certain place, in a certain connection, but this in- 
formation is rarely given. What should be given 
is the meaning of phrases, remembering that 
words alone mean nothing. Dictionaries are works 
of comparatively recent date. They will doubt- 
less improve as they become older. Defining words 
is merely an operation of our mind. We cannot 
affect the words or change their meaning in any 
way. So when we multiply six by five, we get 
nothing new; it was thirty before multiplying. 
The figures that we use are merely helps to see and 
calculate. As a fair illustration of the nature of 
words, and of the different uses to which they may 
be applied, we may take the word work, though 
of course there are hundreds of others that would 
answer the purpose as well. 

It should be borne in mind that, as stated 
repeatedly in this work, a word taken alone means 



PERSONAL AND PREFATORY 



59 



nothing. The very fact that a word means so 
many things and has so many applications, is 
proof that it is not specially connected with any 
one of them. If a word has several meanings and 
we mention one of them, we have given only what 
may be called a part of its accepted meanings. 

Words, as we know, get their meaning from 
what they are associated with, just as we get char- 
acter and expression from dress and surround- 
ings. Really a word used in two different phrases 
or sentences can never have exactly the same sig- 
nificance in both cases. 

We will give, hurriedly, several expressions to 
illustrate the varied uses and meanings of this 
word work. Labor is work, and a book is a work 
— fortifications are works, and there are iron 
works, wire works, gas works — a deed, an act, is a 
work, and so a result is a work — to cease work, to 
stop, to go to work, to begin — to work out, for an- 
other party. There is needlework and lace-work. 
Beer works, it ferments; cathartics work, bees 
work, birds work, flies work, bugs work, and often 
greatly annoy us; a plan works, a law works, a 
ship works, it labors in a storm. To work a mine, 
to work a farm, to run or work a machine. 

These few examples in this one case give a 
fair idea of how new complications arise, in lan- 
guage, and how words come to have new meanings. 
Originally, no doubt, a connection might be found 
between the new and the old meaning of a word, 
but generally the idea of resemblance, the meta- 
phor, is lost from the minds of the multitude. 
When we say a scheme works, or we call a ram- 



80 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



part a work, the reader fails to see why the idea 
of labor is specially applied in these cases. If a 
scheme works, so does anything work that suc- 
ceeds. If we call a fort a work because of the 
labor connected with it, why not call a wood pile 
or a hay stack also a work? Of course, as we 
know, substantially all new words come from met- 
aphors in some way. We might go farther and 
say that our ideas generally are metaphors. They 
are uniformly based on resemblances, either actual 
or imaginary. 



PART II 



WHAT IS TRUTH? 

For thousands of years people have been writ- 
ing about truth, and yet they know as little about 
its exact outlines and proper characteristics as 
they do about the Deity himself. And still they 
write, still they talk, about truth! People, it will 
be noticed, talk most volubly and most confidently 
about things of which they know the least. Gar- 
rulity is not confined to aged men, nor is babbling 
to be noticed only among children. If there is a 
lack of considerateness in much of what people 
do, there is certainly a similar lack in many of 
their utterances. 

In the first place, it is highly important to 
bear in mind that such truth as people usually 
have in view when they treat on that subject, no- 
where exists. At least there is no place where it 
can be readily found. There is no truth for eterni- 
ty; no truth for this man and that man, and for 
all the world beside, at one and the same time. 
Such a truth, we venture to say, has never been 
known or discovered, and it is doubtful if it ever 
will be. Truth, the bottom truth, which is all the 



62 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

truth there is, is always metaphysical, and it is 
never found lying loose upon the surface. We 
may occasionally find nuggets of gold scattered 
about on the ground, but it is not so with truth. 
The deposit itself has to be searched for, and the 
material has to be crushed, sifted and separated 
before anything of appreciable value can be* se- 
cured. Truth in paying quantities is not usually 
found exposed to the view of man. 

People, many people at least, are too apt to 
assert that things are true, and insist upon it, sim- 
ply because they think or believe that they are 
true. In fact, our belief is all the evidence we 
have, or can have, to prove that what we assert is 
really a fact. But, of course, belief cannot be 
evidence in any case. Nevertheless, we go about 
repeating our statements, and asking the world 
to accept them as true, while we have actually 
nothing to offer in defence of our position that 
could be regarded as at all reliable. We are ready 
to give anybody, or everybody, a character, and 
we never retract even when it is demonstrated that 
we are mistaken in what we have said. So we give 
Christ a character, and George Washington a char- 
acter, but what acquaintance did we ever have 
with either of these individuals? What do we 
actually know of the Greeks, the Jews, the Egyp- 
tians, the Ethiopians, the Eomans and the early 
Christians ? We are ready to tell what they have 
done and to give our opinion at any time of their 
character and conduct. But what do we happen 
to know personally of any of those peoples ? Prac- 
tically nothing, and still our assurance remains un- 



WHAT IS TRUTH? 



63 



abated to the last. It has long been stated that 
Greece is the mother country of civilization, but 
at the present time it is generally conceded that 
Greece received its early instruction from such 
countries as Egypt and Persia. The Greeks have 
long been praised beyond measure, but now it is 
known that while they may have been wise or 
clever in many directions, they certainly, in their 
palmiest days, were not always virtuous. 

While it is known that we are accustomed to 
place implicit reliance upon our belief at all times, 
we should not fail to remember that belief is not a 
constant but a variable quantity. We are not to- 
day what we shall be to-morrow, even if we live; 
neither will our belief of to-morrow be exactly 
the same as our belief of to-day. There is no rest 
in life; life itself is nothing but constant change 
and continued development. Why then shall we 
talk of eternal truth, unchangeable belief, some- 
thing that never did or could exist f Why not get 
advanced ideas of things, of death, of love, re- 
ligion, law, the state, and especially of truth f The 
genuine article is just as cheap as the plated kind, 
and it is more lasting. 

It should not be forgotten, especially by re- 
flecting men, that all that we acquire in this world, 
in our mental development, is an opinion. All we 
know, all we feel, and all that we ever can know, 
or can feel, is what we believe, what we think. We 
never know, and we never can know, what or how 
things are. We can only know what we think and 
believe they are. Men have nothing in their minds 
at any time but mere impressions and opinions. 



64 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

People talk about facts and the truth, but they 
die finally — all men do — without ever knowing 
what the facts are or what is the truth. We think 
we get the truth in school, in the church, in the 
court, in the Scriptures, in the books we read, in 
the newspapers, and even in the almanacs — but 
we never do. That much is certain. We get from 
these sources, and from others like them, what 
other people think, and what they find it their 
pleasure or their interest to induce others to think. 
To state the case in another form: We are busy 
all our life with mere thoughts and opinions — 
sometimes our own opinions and sometimes the 
opinions of others. We should never lose sight 
of the fact that no man, no matter how positive 
in his statement, ever gives anything more than 
his bare opinion. That is all that any man can 
give at any time on any question — merely what 
he has learned in some way, what he thinks and 
what he believes. And yet to hear some people 
talk, a person would suppose that they actually 
knew everything! The truth is, if there is any 
truth, we all know nothing. Nothing is proved; 
nothing can be demonstrated. Even Abercrombie 
admits that we understand nothing. 

But before we go farther in this discussion, 
let us consider how we acquire knowledge and how 
we ascertain the truth. Most people imagine that 
they get the greater part of their knowledge, if 
not the whole, from or through their senses, from 
what they see, hear, taste and feel. But in this 
position, if accepted as true, they would find 
themselves mistaken when they came to examine 



WHAT IS TRUTH? 



65 



the case critically and carefully. It is well known 
to all thoughtful and inquiring men, that our 
senses not only often deceive us, but that in fact 
they rarely if ever tell the truth. Does the horse 
that is frightened at a newspaper, or at a wheel- 
barrow in the street, see things as they are ? Even 
when we see with our eyes, we get no informa- 
tion absolutely or directly; we get it from reflec- 
tion and inference, solely by thought and calcu- 
lation. In making our observations, we infer this 
and we infer that, just as we do in all cases where 
any matter of evidence is brought into question. 
And what we see in a landscape is the same as 
we see in a picture — little or nothing beyond 
shade, color and outlines. The picture gives us 
no adequate conception of size, form, distance, 
motion, time, or even material. Everything is 
flat and expressionless. There is really no prom- 
inence on any part of the page; the picture says 
nothing, does nothing, is nothing. To the eye, a 
small man appears as large in a picture as a 
bigger man would; and Ireland covers as much 
space on one map as Eussia does on another map. 
Size in pictures, and distance on maps, depends 
entirely upon the scale that the artist follows. 

All the ideas that we get from looking at a 
picture are purely matters of inference. Where 
the shading is heavy, we have learned to expect 
depressions in the surface, and where there are 
spots illumined, we look for elevations. But this 
is largely conventional; there is no necessary con- 
nection between shadows and valleys, or light 
and elevation, as they are found on paper. For 



66 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

animals, and even for the uncultivated races of 
men, light and shadow have no value, no expres- 
sion, in illustrations. A picture gives us some 
idea of relative size and tells us something about 
location in connection with neighboring objects, 
and but little more. What a picture tells us, a 
landscape also tells us, and there is very little 
difference between them in any essential respect. 
And what is said of pictures is equally true of 
maps. In fact, maps are pictures presented in the 
form of crude outline. Maps tell us something 
about relative situation, and very little beyond 
that. A picture presents a surface, with a certain 
amount of light and shade, and a landscape does 
nothing less nor more. 

It should be noticed that it is not within the 
range of possibility for a picture or a painting to 
present an event. To do that requires time, and 
time does not enter into pictures. Pictures can 
present only forms, figures and shading. An 
event is the result of a series of movements fol- 
lowing each other in regular succession. It is 
simply a growth, a development, and these are 
things that cannot be brought out with brush and 
pencil. We can see in a picture what exists at 
the present moment but we cannot see what has 
happened, and much less what is about to happen. 
A picture cannot show two events, or results, at 
one time. The effect of a picture is solely to sug- 
gest, and the same is true of words and signs 
generally. They simply remind us, and thus we 
are able to see very much that is not really in 
the picture. Pictures act upon the imagination. 



WHAT IS TRUTH? 



67 



It may be added that every reflection is a 
picture, in fact a transient, fleeting photograph. 
It is the result of a change in the reflecting sur- 
face produced by cutting off a portion of its light. 
Everything cuts off the light from other objects, 
to some extent; so it also reflects light from all of 
its surfaces, and hence it casts its shadows and 
leaves its impression upon everything exposed to 
view in its vicinity. A shadow is also a picture — 
one of the earliest and most original of the kind. 
It is a temporary impression left upon a body pre- 
cisely as happens in taking pictures in photogra- 
phy. An eclipse is also in the nature of a picture. 
It might be observed that both shadows and re- 
flections are not properly thrown; nothing passes 
from one thing to another in these cases. There is 
no connection in any case between pictures and 
the things presented. 



HISTORY 



And we come next, in this connection, to an 
interesting and important topic which we will 
consider under the name of History. What is 
history! According to the conception that pre- 
vails generally among the masses, history is truth 
in its sublimated form; it is biography and de- 
scription spread out on paper, and finally bound 
in volumes for the greater convenience of the 
reader. It is commonly believed that above other 



68 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

men the historian speaks the trnth at all times, 
that he uniformly knows what he is talking about, 
and he is positive as to the accuracy of any state- 
ments that he chooses to make. He is a favorite 
of the Lord, and he could not tell a lie if he wished. 
But a careful examination into the matter will 
show that all such impressions are erroneous, and 
that the facts of the case are quite otherwise. An 
historian is just like any ordinary man, the dif- 
ference between him and his neighbors, in the 
matter of qualities and qualifications, being solely 
one of degree. There are no men in all this world 
that are more than ordinary men, or really better 
in any way. An historian is not essentially dif- 
ferent from a judge, and a judge is not very dif- 
ferent from a constable, a justice of the peace or 
a sheriff of the county. They are all men, only 
ordinary men at best. Their offices add nothing 
to their height, breadth, or depth, or to their 
character generally. 

An historian is fallible in his judgment, like 
other men; in fact no men can be found who are 
not fallible. The historian in what he writes and 
publishes knows little or nothing of his own per- 
sonal knowledge. Everything comes to him sec- 
ond-hand; he writes, or he reports, merely what 
he has read in books, or possibly what he has 
heard people say. Substantially all the knowl- 
edge that any of us gain is secured in some such 
way as this. Even the case in court is decided 
wholly upon the evidence produced, which at best 
is merely what somebody says, and what finally the 
court happens to accept and believe. That is all 



HISTORY 



6S> 



there is, not only of proof in court, but also of 
proof in history. 

We imagine that the historian describes 
things as they really are, just as we imagine that 
the painter does the same thing when he puts an 
object on canvas. But in neither case are we cor- 
rect in the impression formed. The painter does 
not even pretend to paint objects as they are. 
He paints them simply as he sees them, and 
as he feels disposed to present them, leaving out very 
many points that are important, and giving much 
shape and coloring to the picture that cannot be 
found anywhere in nature. He is governed not 
only by the bent of his own genius, but by the 
rules of his trade or art, and especially by the 
sentiments of that portion of the people which 
includes his patrons. It is with painting as it is 
with tailoring and dressmaking — the artist is ex- 
pected to follow the fashion of the day, at least 
in important points, or leave the field. If patrons 
do not get what they want, they will naturally not 
want anything. A coat is made in one style at 
one time and in another style at another time. So 
it is with pictures — and, indeed, with everything 
else. As there is no true coat, no coat for all time, 
so there is no true picture. No picture is a reproduc- 
tion of an object in any manner whatever. As 
already intimated, there is much in the picture 
that does not belong there, and much that does 
belong there could not possibly be found with any 
amount of scrutiny. Just so it is with every book 
of history that has ever been published. 

For all practical purposes even the best of 



7 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



histories are mere works of fiction. They are in 
all eases the work of an artist who presents his 
subject as he wants to present it, without any 
special concern as to the real character of the 
people described, or whether the incidents re- 
ported did or did not happen exactly as set forth 
in the volume. Historians, we repeat, are artists, 
and what they write is for effect simply, either to 
assail or defend some character, or to carry out 
some plan or to justify some opinion of their own. 
If historians wrote simply the truth, and were con- 
tent to stop with that, we should have but one his- 
tory on any one subject, because the truth, and 
the whole truth, having been told already by the 
first author, nothing more would remain to be 
said by some other author later on. But that is 
not the way things go in the domain of history. 
We have, as is well known, a great many histories 
covering the same ground precisely, and all are 
very much unlike. And why f Because each new 
author assumes that all the other histories treat- 
ing on the subject in question are either untrue 
or incomplete, or perhaps both together. His own 
work, as he looks at the matter, is the only one 
that is reliable, while all the others must neces- 
sarily be unreliable. In fact, all that we get in 
any history is some one's view of things — merely how 
certain men see certain objects, or what coloring 
they give to certain events. Just so it is with 
pictures. Every artist presents merely his view 
of the subject before him. The pictures differ 
each from the other very materially, but the sub- 
ject remains practically unchanged. The differ- 



HISTORY 



71 



ence lies wholly in the artists and their methods 
of treatment. Christ, in the Middle Ages, the 
same for all, was painted by artists hundreds of 
times, but by no two of them alike. So much for 
art and imagination — they always go together. 
It is well known that no two stories ever agree. 
And how should they agree, when no two observ- 
ers ever see alike, and some people do not see at 
all? 

There is so much in the way in which we look 
at things and the results are so varied and so im- 
portant in many instances, I deem it best to con- 
sider the subject still farther. Not only in paint- 
ing and art generally, but in history as well, sub- 
jects are presented differently because they are 
seen by different men, with different eyes, at dif- 
ferent times, under different circumstances entire- 
ly. It should never be forgotten for a moment 
that no two persons ever see the same object alike. 
One is more careless or more hasty and more 
superficial than another; one overlooks more 
points than the other, and perhaps the one is not 
so well informed as the other. Again, much of 
the impression formed in regard to a certain ob- 
ject comes from things remembered, and it is well 
known that some people have much poorer memo- 
ries than others. For these and many similar rea- 
sons, people are seldom found to be in such a con- 
dition as to be enabled to see and understand the 
truth in any case. 

Do we wonder that pictures and paintings 
come so very short of presenting objects in a man- 
ner that is in any way satisfactory? How could 



72 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

the result be different? And in history again, 
what should we expect f How could it be possible 
that the many incidents noticed and the many 
facts related should prove to be presented pre- 
cisely as they occurred? If men do not see or 
know the truth in the first place, how can they be 
expected to present the truth to others, either in 
history or in art ? It is absurd to claim at any time 
that facts are ever presented as they are, or as 
they were. An approximation to the truth, more 
or less close, is the very most that should be ex- 
pected at any time. What, for instance, was his- 
tory in the Middle Ages? Buckle assures us it 
was mostly fable. Macauley as an historian did 
not even pretend to be accurate in any of his 
statements. His leading object was to attain an 
effect, and to him the precise truth was a subordi- 
nate matter. The historians of the Middle Ages, 
and of classical times, were simply artists and 
painters. They were bards who loved to sing, 
and they were not much concerned about the facts 
of their story. 

We get in all cases from the historian just 
what we might expect from ordinary men gener- 
ally under the same circumstances. We have no 
assurance that he ever sees correctly any more 
than we have that anybody sees correctly. We do 
not know either that he scrutinizes carefully or 
that he judges correctly. He writes from his own 
impulses, with his own personal objects in view, 
what happens to come into his mind. He is lim- 
ited by the knowledge he has, or perhaps by the 
lack of it. He is limited also by his intellectual 



HISTORY 



73 



gifts, or possibly by the want of them. He may 
write well, or he may write ill. His zeal, his imag- 
ination, and often his prejudices, may lead him 
astray, so that it could not be said that he pre- 
sents anything as it really exists. And yet we con- 
sult history with the assurance that the bottom 
truth is to be found there! No greater error was 
ever incorporated in the belief of man. It is sur- 
prising to notice the facility with which people are 
led to believe what they hear, and to observe the 
slim foundation upon which their opinions are 
often found to rest. There is a striking tendency 
in mankind to believe all they hear and especial- 
ly to accept everything that they see in print. As 
a rule the world is slow to discriminate, and the 
reason may probably be found in the fact that 
discrimination implies both observation and ef- 
fort. 

History is founded on truth — no doubt of it. 
Fiction is also founded on fact. There is a great 
deal of fiction in history, and a great deal of his- 
tory in fiction. These two forms of literature have 
many points in common. Indeed, there is clearly 
no radical difference between them. Schopenhauer 
assures us that in all history there is more that 
is false than true, and many other writers have 
come to the same conclusion. Finally, what is fic- 
tion, and what is fact! It is hard to tell. Where 
shall we draw the line? Poetry is fiction; the 
Scriptures are known to be allegory chiefly. What 
shall we find that is not fiction, when the question 
comes to be duly and justly considered? It is a 



74 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

just saying : ' i Anything but history — for history 
must be false. ' ' 

We have many histories, and perhaps there is 
no man of any eminence that has not been fully 
and freely written up repeatedly in his life time. 
And yet what do we really know of the great men 
of the world, who, as we have intimated, have been 
dressed and undressed many times by famous his- 
torians ? What that is accurate or reliable do we 
know of Socrates or Plato, or Julius Caesar, or 
Napoleon Bonaparte, or even our own George 
Washington? We know little, very little, of these 
men, and what we do know cannot be depended on. 
As to Washington, we do not know to a certainty, 
even at this late day, whether he could tell a lie or 
not. We do not know whether the father 's cherry 
tree was hacked by George's little hatchet or by 
the hatchet of somebody else. Who can assert 
positively that little George ever had a hatchet, 
or that his father ever had a cherry tree? His- 
torians are at variance on these as well as other 
points. When so much is said, it is not at all re- 
markable that so little is known, especially when 
even our best writers are so very reckless in the 
statements they make. 

It has been said that history makes its heroes, 
and the statement is well founded. Indeed, if we 
had no history, we should have no heroes. His- 
tory hunts up heroes, dresses them in attractive 
and interesting garb, and thereby gives them a 
character. Heroes without histories would have 
no character, no standing. They would not even 
exist. No man is pictured by the artist as he is. 



HISTORY 



7 5 



No man is described in history or biography as he 
is. We never know what a man is; it is hardly 
possible that he himself knows what he is. A 
man's history, to be true, should be written and 
rewritten every week, for he is changed and trans- 
formed to some extent each succeeding day. A 
man at twenty or ten years is never the man we 
find at forty or sixty years. No man is known 
to more than a few people at best, and even by 
them he is known only partially and imperfectly. 

We may paint a man hideously, because we 
are skillful in handling the brush. Or we may 
have a grudge against him, or possibly our vision 
is impaired and we do not see correctly. But what 
does all this prove ? That the man really is hide- 
ous? Most assuredly not — we all know better 
than that. There are such exaggerations as car- 
icatures — villainous or indecent things at best — 
but what do they prove? Nothing, save that 
there are fools and rascals in the world. Cari- 
catures may hurt the feelings of the victim, but 
they never set forth a man's true character or 
appearance. So it is in history and biography; 
so it is in books of all kinds. There are good 
books and bad books, but it should not be for- 
gotten that none of them give the truth at all times and 
on all subjects. It is no wonder at all that sen- 
sible men are beginning to see that we need a new 
kind of history, history in a new form and upon 
a new basis, history whose purpose it is to glorify 
the truth itself and to disregard the vanities of 
man. Above all things, what we want is history 
without adoration, for where we find adoration. 



76 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

there can be no truth. We have had truth in abun- 
dance for the benefit of high society and great 
men. Now let us have truth as it is and as we 
find it in common everyday life. 

There are various sources of error in all that 
we utter and all that we publish. We are liable 
to find things misrepresented in the statements 
that are given us. We may be careless in our 
observations, and perhaps we are not sufficiently 
instructed in the premises to be enabled to see 
and understand things properly in the first place. 
At best we may have seen our objects at a disad- 
vantage; we usually get nothing but instantane- 
ous views of the things that come under our ob- 
servation. We never see anything but the out- 
side of objects, and even then we ordinarily see 
them at a distance. But beyond all this there are 
other sources of error, some of which are more 
important in their results than anything that we 
have yet noticed. There is, for instance, the mat- 
ter of interpretation: 



Everything that is presented to our mind or 
that comes before our eyes has to be interpreted 
before it can be understood and appreciated. That 
is a matter wholly for the observer or the reader, 
and the writer or artist himself is entirely power- 
less so far as insuring a correct interpretation is 
concerned. No matter how we paint, what we 
write nor what we publish, we never can tell in 
advance how our production will be accepted and 



INTERPRETATION 



77 



understood by the public. It must not be forgotten 
in continuing this inquiry, that every picture and 
every word is merely a sign put forth to call up 
thoughts and impressions in the mind of the 
reader or observer; and it should also be remem- 
bered that the same picture and the same word 
never call forth exactly the same idea in the minds 
of two different individuals. No man can ever 
know how he appears to other people, and most 
assuredly he never can decide beforehand how 
his utterances will be received by those who con- 
stitute his audience. 

But the greatest amount of error and mis- 
understanding is to be found in the interpretation of 
words. And the reason for such a result is not 
difficult to ascertain. Words really express noth- 
ing in themselves; they are simply conventional 
signs used at certain times with a certain appli- 
cation, by the common consent of those who 
read and those who write. The notes and signs 
in music are just as meaningless and just as arbi- 
trary as words are, and they are used substan- 
tially for the same purpose. So there is no true 
expression in a picture or painting, and it never 
has the same effect upon all observers. It all 
depends upon who does the interpreting and how 
it is done. It is in itself merely so much shade, 
color and form presented as a picture in our way. 
The Greeks had another way, the Egyptians an- 
other, and the Aztecs, of Mexico, still another. 
How any of these paintings or sketches appear, 
depends very largely upon how the interpreter 
understands them. It might be noted here that 



7S 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



pictures originally gave the figure in outlines, as 
our maps do; color and shading, as well as per- 
spective, were things that came into notice at a 
later day. 

The matter of words and their interpretation 
deserves still further consideration. As already 
intimated, words have absolutely no meaning or ex- 
pression of their own. They may mean one thing or 
they may mean another. It all depends upon 
such an uncertain and arbitrary influence as usage 
— usage and the context. As we all know, and 
as any dictionary would show, words mean a great 
many different things, or rather they have a great 
many different applications — which, by the way, 
is a sure indication that they have no definite 
meaning at all. For instance, a way may be a 
street or a manner; and right may be a privilege, 
or it may be opposed to wrong. So we speak of 
the sweetness of sugar, of an apple, of song, of 
dispositions ; light, not dark, and light, not heavy, 
words as different in their application as words 
can be. In music, a note standing alone has no 
value. The note A of one octave is as different 
from the A of another octave as any two notes 
can be. 

Is it any wonder that one man reads one thing 
in a book, and another reads something different, 
on the same page, all depending upon education 
and interpretation? Is it a wonder that one judge 
on the bench decides this way, and another de- 
cides that way, with the same evidence before 
him, and on the same question! It is wholly a 
matter of temperament, interest perhaps, and in- 



INTERPRETATION 



79 



terpretation. And we use words so indefinitely, 
and with such a variety of meaning! We speak 
simply of a book. What book or what kind of a 
book? Is it an octavo, or a quarto, or a mere 
primer? Is it a bank book, a blank book, a racing 
book, or a song book? Words that mean many 
things mean nothing. 

Is it not a very great wonder that we ever 
fully understand the contents of any book? The 
fact is, we never do understand it as the writer 
himself intended. Undoubtedly as long as time 
lasts, write what we may, one man is liable to 
interpret it one way, and another man quite dif- 
ferently. We know it is so with laws, and it is 
so with the Scriptures. Is it not more or less 
so in every case where we use words or signs to 
convey thoughts? 

There is more in the matter of interpretation, 
in the affairs of life, than many people suppose. 
Everything has to be interpreted before it can 
be appreciated. Even the food we consume has 
to be assimilated before it can become a part of 
our system. Those who know are able to inter- 
pret what they see, and those who do not know 
cannot interpret at all. Interpretation is a mat- 
ter of knowledge and capacity. Many people gaze 
upon a Middle Age cathedral and see nothing in 
the structure but an immense pile of material. 
For them it is simply chaos. It does not follow 
that because people speak English, they can un- 
derstand all that they read in that language or 
can appreciate all the objects that come under 
their notice while traveling in English speaking 



80 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

countries. Many English words have to be in- 
terpreted for English readers precisely as if the 
words were Eussian or Hebrew. How many peo- 
ple, intelligent people, have no just conception of 
the meaning of snch common words as idea, sub- 
ject, object, realism, compunction, complaisance, depose, 
desecrate, to say nothing of a host of words found 
in ordinary professional works ! 

The true nature and force of language is best 
illustrated in telegraphic codes, where not only 
may one word serve in the place of another word, 
but it may even represent a phrase or a whole 
sentence, or indeed more than one sentence. It 
is evident enough that there is absolutely no 
meaning or expression in a word; that lies wholly 
in the mind of the interpreter, or of the one who 
makes the application of the word or combines 
the words in the sentence. So in the case of mes- 
sages, the key being a matter between the one 
who sends and the one who receives the despatch. 
The case is precisely so in ordinary language. 
Everything depends upon the one who reads, or 
the one who listens — upon his knowledge, his 
attention, his power of appreciation. Clearly 
enough, all language, is simply a matter of signs, 
and their interpretation depends upon the key. 
The question is, how words are used, not what they 
mean. What we read, we interpret, we assimilate; 
we translate the words of other people into our 
thoughts. Those who cannot assimilate, cannot 
learn. 



PHASES OF HISTORY 



81 



Before closing the subject of History, there 
are certain other phases that it may not be amiss 
to consider. A new history does not mean neces- 
sarily that a new subject has been presented to 
the public. What it really does mean, very gen- 
erally, is a new view, by some new writer, on the 
same old subject. The subject does not change 
in any respect; the change lies wholly in the artist 
himself. What we get in history, when we come 
to a new book, usually, is what we get in the 
sciences, and in treatises generally, simply an ac- 
cumulation of new notions paraded before the 
public by some ambitious student who is either 
anxious to obtain money or is an aspirant to 
greatness. Such views, like other views on other 
subjects, are merely for the time being, and at 
no distant day they will give place to something 
more novel and more interesting. It may be ob- 
served that it is not history alone that is made 
up wholly of opinions. Science and philosophy 
are established upon a similar foundation, and 
we find nothing but opinions and views, no mat- 
ter what book we may happen to take into our 
hands. 

In all writings, as in pictures and delineations 
of every kind, we get nothing but the thoughts 
and conceptions of man. We do not get original 
facts but mere impressions in every instance. In- 
deed, where shall we find the truth? It is never 
found. Consider what history, poetry, sculpture 
and sketches really are. They are never the truth, 
save to a limited extent, and what we do find 
comes in a very indirect manner. By those who 



82 NEW VIEWS ON" OLD SUBJECTS 

know, these presentations are never pretended 
to be literal truth, or trustworthy copies of things 
in nature in any just sense. We get the views 
of the writer and we learn his feelings and senti- 
ments on the matter in question — and but little 
more. It is here as it is in the case of a portrait. 
We find the subject presented simply as some one 
sees him. Another artist would present an en- 
tirely different picture of the same subject at 
the same period of time. And so it is in history. 
In every case where we get new books on old 
subjects, we get only the views of some new 
prophet. The description, the dress, is changed, 
but the subject remains as before. The hat does 
not affect the wearer in the slightest degree. It 
can be taken on or put off, and still no change 
occurs. It is so with the sentiments or descriptions 
found in books. They change nothing, effect noth- 
ing. An author always writes what is on his mind, 
and he does so chiefly to be relieved of the bur- 
den. It is so, too, with the painter in his paint- 
ings and the engraver in his sketches. A painter 
has the subject sit for him, not to give him new 
facts, but a better idea of the face and form that 
he is about to put on canvas. The painter colors 
his own picture; so do the historian and the poet. 
They all deal with their own conceptions solely. 

There is no literal truth in history, as there 
is none in poetry and allegory. The ancients did 
not pretend otherwise for one moment. They 
had gods, it is true, as we have gods to-day, but 
the intelligent portion at least of their popula- 
tion never imagined that gods were made of flesh 



PHASES OF HISTORY 



S£ 



and bones and viscera like ourselves. They wrote 
history, but they understood very well that they 
were only following sentiment and tradition. 
Speeches by orators and heroes were repeated, 
but no one supposed that as they were written 
so they were delivered at any time or in any place. 
Plato wrote, as Homer sung, many things that 
he assumed that other people said. But who be- 
lieves that other people really said them as they 
are written? There is more fiction in history 
than is commonly supposed. People never know 
the facts when they get them, and it is rare, if 
ever, that they get the facts. 

People generally have a strange misconcep- 
tion as to how history is written. They speak of 
the performance as if it were all one act, while 
it is really a piece of mosaic or patchwork. Per- 
haps they imagine that the author merely said: 
"Let there be light, and there was light." But 
evidently such an impression, so far as it exists, 
is based on error. We venture to say no man 
ever wrote history in any such a simple and ex- 
peditious manner as this. It is never dashed off 
hurriedly as might be done with a sentence or a 
word. Even an ordinary picture is never painted 
in any such off-hand way. Only one picture is 
painted at a time; indeed, it is only an insignifi- 
cant portion of a figure that is painted at one 
time. Even the hand has fingers, and the fingers 
joints and nails, and these are always sketched 
and painted one at a time. How could it be other- 
wise! 



84 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

The historian has much the same experience 
as other artists. He, too, can present but one thing 
at a time. Perhaps it is a battle that he sets out 
to describe. He cannot do it all in one moment, 
or with one stroke of the pen. He could not even 
if he were a god. He must begin at one point 
and take one thing after another in regular and 
natural succession. All work, by nature or man, 
must be done in this simple and elementary man- 
ner. One thing is all that any artist can have in 
mind at any one moment; and while he is busy 
with this, he is necessarily oblivious to every- 
thing else. 

Moreover, the historian never writes what 
he sees. Even if he has seen what he describes, 
he must still write from his memory only, or 
from the memory of some one else, for the battle, 
no doubt, was long since ended. The historian, 
as already intimated, does not write facts. He 
writes merely what is on his mind, and his chief 
effort is to get it off at the earliest moment prac- 
ticable. He takes one event or incident at a time, 
on some part of the field, and so he continues till 
the story is completed. And when it is all done, 
what we have is merely a story, just as if written 
or told by some other person. It may be wholly 
true, or partly true, or possibly not true at all. 
Who shall ever be able to ascertain exactly how 
it is ? Indeed, who will ever care ? If the story is 
interesting, who will trouble himself to inquire 
whether it is also true? Is anything true that is 
written ? Surely, we know of a certainty that much 
that is published as truth is not truth, and never 



PHASES OF HISTORY 



83 



was. The historian, it is conceded, writes a great 
many things that nobody has ever seen. Nobody 
has ever seen or noticed the causes of the con- 
flict described, or the motives of the actors, or 
the connection of events. All these, and many 
other things, never appear on paper, nor in any 
other place save the mind or imagination of the 
writer. He portrays things merely as they appear 
to him, in his own style, and with a success that 
is limited solely by his ability and genius. 



It is one thing to know a fact, and another 
thing to appreciate it and bring it home to us in 
every-day life. We all know a host of facts that 
we are in the habit of ignoring. We are often 
forgetful or indifferent, and sometimes both. So 
we know very well that history does not paint the 
world as it is, but this knowledge we usually fail 
to apply in practice. People know — intelligent 
people know — that nothing is ever painted as it 
is, either in words or in colors. A few objects 
are presented to the eye here and there, not as 
they really are, but as the artist fancies they are, 
or as he prefers to present them. It is not possi- 
ble to present the whole of things at any time, 
with either pencil or pen. When we see the whole 
of things, as we see the sun, moon and stars in 
the heavens, we really perceive nothing, — noth- 
ing at least that is definite or intelligible. 

What is it, ordinarily, that makes history in- 
teresting or attractive! What is it that is placed 



86 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

most conspicuously on the pages of history ? What 
is found there most frequently is the record of 
slaughter, supplemented by harrowing pictures 
of war and its horrors. The historian, who is gen- 
erally a man of affairs, understands very well 
what sort of pabulum the public craves. In Amer- 
ica particularly, the writing and publishing of 
books is usually a business transaction. The pub- 
lisher has an eye exclusively to the money that 
he imagines he sees in the venture ; and the writer, 
being human like other folks, has ordinarily the 
same object in view. As to the public, all that it 
wants is to be edified and amused, no matter what 
the entertainment costs. If it does not find time 
to read the books, it wants something at least 
that looks well on library shelves. 

Indeed, what shall we assume to be the pur- 
pose of history! What is the primary object in 
view? Shall we say that its aim is to enlighten 
the people? Does it in any way serve to make 
men better? History might indeed do this — the 
right kind of history might — but such history as 
we have is seldom known to produce any such 
results. History as it is usually written, and tra- 
dition, as history appeared in the early stages 
of the world, has for its chief purpose to glorify 
a few individuals, and through them to exalt the 
race, or the nation as a whole. Thus, the French 
boast of Napoleon, because Napoleon stands for 
France. 

A history of all the people never seems as 
yet to have been dreamed of by any author. In 
fact, it would be quite impossible. History is for 



PHASES OF HISTORY 



8 7 



the great, and for those who wish to be called 
great. How can we paint or describe the whole 
people, when it has no character or outlines as a 
body, and even no record of its own ! Individuals 
alone can be painted or described, and even these 
are presented in a very crude and imperfect form. 
The individual, it will be remembered, is himself 
a whole made up of innumerable parts. 

History, viewed in one of its aspects, is the 
tribunal before which man's claims are brought 
for adjudication. It is very much in the nature 
of an ordinary court. However, it is self-consti- 
tuted, and in the fullest sense of the word a one- 
sided affair. The historian is practically "the 
whole thing." He hears all the evidence and he 
decides what is and what is not evidence. When 
he is ready, he renders his verdict, whatever that 
happens to be. This is in accordance with how he 
sees things and how he happens to feel at the time 
that the decision is made. And so it is with courts 
generally. In due time the verdict appears in 
print and finally it comes out in book form. That 
settles the matter for all time. People have a 
great regard for what an historian writes, espe- 
cially when they see it in print. What would the 
Holy Bible have amounted to, if it had not ap- 
peared some hundreds of years ago in the form 
of a book! Even the word of God amounts to 
nothing unless it is put in portable shape so that 
it can be conveniently carried about. 

There is no appeal from history; the writer 
is not supposed to be amenable to any higher au- 
thority. It may be proved that the author is mis- 



88 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

taken, but that makes no difference. Mistakes 
will occur in the best of families. That a story 
is stated one way in one book and another way 
in another book, proves nothing. How shall we 
ever know which view to accept and which to 
reject! This shows what history is — merely what 
somebody says. However, people should not be too 
particular about what they see in print. There 
is no law to compel them to believe all they read. 
Truth, it will be remembered, is, in practice, large- 
ly a manufactured article; it is not a natural pro- 
duction, as many have been led to suppose it to 
be. Truth identifies itself with history, which, as 
we know, is simply what somebody says. When 
a statement appears in print, it assumes the crys- 
talized form, and after that it changes very slowly. 

As we might expect at this late period of 
the world, when civilization is taking on new 
phases, history is beginning to take a new shape 
and to appear under new conditions. Much of 
what might be called current history appears to- 
day in periodicals and newspapers. Indeed, it 
is hard to draw the line between what may be 
called history and what may be called news. Or 
is all history news, and is all news history? But 
we will not undertake to decide this question 
now. It has never yet come to a decision, and 
perhaps it never will. So long as editors find it 
profitable to publish history, no doubt they will 
go on publishing it in place of news, as they have 
been and are doing; and doubtless historians will 
go on publishing news in place of history, just to 
return the compliment, and perhaps make a little 



PHASES OP HISTORY 



89 



money. It should not be forgotten that history 
has many forms and phases. Tradition, romance, 
eulogy and myth all help to give a lively coloring 
to many of its pictures. 

But it would seem that those who edit news- 
papers, as well as those who publish history, 
should have chiefly in view the instruction and 
improvement of the masses. Yet, it must be con- 
fessed that much of what appears in our journals 
and histories of the present day could never have 
been published with any such purpose in mind 
as this. There is certainly nothing very instruc- 
tive or elevating in the usual records of slaughter 
and crime, or in the published reports of suicides 
or defalcations, or the sickening evidence of di- 
vorce cases. Newspapers, like books, are made 
to sell, and whatever ministers to the vanities of 
the people, or that serves to satisfy the thirst for 
the scandalous and monstrous, is sure to be care- 
fully collected and promptly put in print. A 
large portion of what now appears in books and 
newspapers is printed with a view to satisfy that 
morbid curiosity which is the prevailing weakness 
of civilized races. Curiosity is a feature that is 
found chiefly in modern civilized life, and it is 
noticed that it is something that rarely disturbs 
the equanimity of the savage. Curiosity leads 
man to do much that brings him no compensation 
whatever. From mere idle curiosity, and with no 
promise of either reward or advantage, people 
will explore the depths of some ancient graveyard, 
or remove the debris of some lost or forgotten city, 
hoping to find some rare piece of ruined pottery, or 



90 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

possibly some interesting fragment of old-time 
statuary. Curiosity is not a bad thing, but it is a 
source of diversion that may be, and often is, car- 
ried to distressing lengths. 

It may be added in this connection that 
through history the present age is bound to the 
past as to the body of a dead man. We, the de- 
scendants of our ancestors, are passed down to 
posterity, as an inheritance, with the rest of the 
testator's property. We are even liable for the 
debts that the old people failed to pay. We in- 
herit the debts with the property. Was there ever 
before a conception more absurd or monstrous 
than this? Once a slave, always a slave — and 
we are weak and silly enough to subscribe to that 
antiquated doctrine! We are not even concerned 
about our emancipation; things are believed to 
be right as they are, or rather as they were. And 
so we remain tied to the past as we have been all 
along. The past gives us law, government, philos- 
ophy, religion, everything! We must worshirJ 
our ancestors ; what they may have said or done is 
right, even when we know very well that it is just 
the opposite that is true. It is wicked to speak 
disparagingly of the past, because it is a reflec- 
tion upon our ancestors — de mortuis nil nisi bonum. 
Worship of ancestors! How much money and 
time is wasted in that childish pastime! The 
true way is to look to our ancestors for no inherit- 
ance, and then we shall incur no obligation. The 
soundest of all doctrines is to owe no man any- 
thing, and to keep at all times "free from entang- 
ling alliances." An alliance even with the Al- 



PHASES OF HISTORY 



91 



mighty himself is something that could hardly be 
recommended. 

It is time for us to have new ideas of the use, 
purpose and proper place of history. Prof. 
Eucken says with truth : ' ' History lies upon man 
like an Alp; it works toward confusion, deadness, 
untruth; it robs us of our own and gives to us an- 
other's life instead. * * * 4 'History holds 
man fast ; he cannot shake it off through some sud- 
den resolve. He must arrange with it; only his- 
tory itself can free him from history/ ' It is bad 
enough to be mortgaged in any case, but worst of 
all, it is, to be mortgaged to the dead. It is a 
fiction even to suppose that there can be any obli- 
gation to the dead. The death of a person natu- 
rally and necessarily closes all of his accounts. If 
we have not done all that we could or should do 
for him before death, it is too late after that event. 
All homage is a waste of attention, as everybody 
knows. The chief duty that should concern the 
living refers to themselves; at least it will be but 
a short time before they also will be numbered 
with the dead. Such is life. Honors, like sacri- 
fices, are for the living only — always for the living. 
There should be no mistake about that matter. If 
we wish to be kind to our friends, to-day is the 
time. To-morrow it may be too late. 

The living take the world as it is found and 
as it is left to them. It is a heritage that comes to 
them in the natural course of things. Whether 
things might have been done better by our ances- 
tors or not, is a matter that it is quite too late to 
inquire about at this time. The sole question is, 



92 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

how much better will the business be done by our- 
selves? Most of the time that we spend turning 
over the leaves of history, especially ancient his- 
tory, will be found to be misspent. If time weighs 
heavily on our hands, history might be read for 
diversion, and it is rare that it should be read for 
any other purpose. A synopsis of history is all 
that the most intelligent should ordinarily desire. 
In fact a man should read history just as fai as it 
serves his special purpose, and no farther. He 
should remember that history is something that 
he can read at any time. If it happens to be facts 
and details that he is interested in, he should re- 
member that it is rare that they will be found in 
a reliable and satisfactory form in any book. We 
know indeed that books often disagree on material 
points, and hence it is that history has to be writ- 
ten and rewritten every few years. Some of these 
books at least must be wrong. 

It has already been seen that what is true and 
right at one time is not necessarily true and right 
for some other period of the world's history. 
Truth and justice as we have it are only for the 
time being. These are always things for the 
world in a particular stage of its existence. It 
cannot be just and fair to govern men according to 
rules and laws laid down by those who lived and 
died hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of years 
ago. Every age should live upon the ideas of its own time. 
Any people that conducts its affairs under rules 
of life based upon the philosophy of a former age 
is sure to make a failure of its undertaking. We 
have ourselves seen how it works, in practice at 



APPEARANCES 



93 



this late day, to live under a government founded 
upon Jewish history and philosophy, with a juris- 
prudence built upon old Eoman law. Who shall 
undertake to estimate, even approximately, how 
much misery and injustice humanity has endured 
already as the legitimate consequences of trying 
such a hazardous experiment as this! 



APPEARANCE VS. REALITY. 

Are the things real that we see about us, en- 
gaging our attention and arousing our thoughts 
every hour; or are they merely "a fleeting show 
to man's illusion given"? The question in this 
case is old, very old — older than the pyramids, 
and as old at least as civilized man. The ques- 
tion has been repeatedly asked, and it has been dis- 
cussed indefinitely in the past; but never has the 
debate been taken up more earnestly by thinking 
men than at the present day. Are things sub- 
stantial and lasting, or are they like the ghosts of 
the graveyard, liable at any time to vanish into 
thin air? The question has been asked and asked 
again, and still it is being asked, but the problem 
remains, just as it has remained for thousands of 
years already, without a solution. We have, how- 
ever, gotten so far as to appreciate the fact that 
there is truth on both sides of this question, or in 
other words that there is truth in the claims of the 
Idealists and truth on the side of the Kealists, both 



94 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

at the same time. But beyond that, on this prob- 
lem, the world has made little progress that can 
in any sense be considered satisfactory. We are 
completely at sea, as the profound thinkers of all 
lands have been all along. However, it seems to 
be a fact that the preponderance of talent and 
thought is largely on the side of the Idealists, the 
side where the shadowy view of things prevails. 

It is highly important that we should have 
correct views and accurate information on all sub- 
jects that concern us, even on such distressful 
metaphysical questions as the one now before us. 
All thought comes under the head of metaphysics 
and the question under consideration here is not 
in any sense more metaphysical than others. 
Error and ignorance on the topics of the day, espe- 
cially on matters of general concern, are certain 
to lead to misfortune and mishaps at last. When 
people are on the wrong road, they certainly are 
not on the right one, and the farther they travel 
the more doubtful and more dangerous their route 
is sure to become. Before their journey is finally 
ended, something decidedly unpleasant or unfor- 
tunate in its consequences is quite likely to occur. 
It is astonishing how reckless we are in what we 
believe and what we assert. We have the same 
weakness in this country that is common in Ger- 
many. They call it schwatzen — talking too much 
without thinking. We get an impression into our 
heads, and we never suspect for a moment that our 
beliefs and theories may be entirely wrong. By 
the way, most of the vanity that prevails among 
men is occasioned by misunderstandings in the 



APPEARANCES 



95 



first place, and by impressions formed that are not 
founded on truth. Mistakes are uniformly serious 
matters, but ordinarily few people regard them as 
such. Men have their own theories and notions, 
and they cherish them with unbounded devotion. 
That is the reason why people are so slow to learn, 
and why so little progress is made in what may be 
called true knowledge. Who shall estimate the 
miseries that have come to this world from the 
unfounded beliefs of man? Most of our sorrows 
may be traced to that source. Whether we have 
sustained a loss or not in a business transaction 
depends solely upon the question how we look at 
things, and how we make the figures. Compared 
with last year it may be a loss, while compared 
with some other year it may be a gain. Most of 
our losses are imaginary, and so it is with the 
causes of most of our sorrows. 

That we exist, there seems to be no cause for 
doubting, and for all practical purposes there is a 
world outside of ourselves. We know something 
of ourself, but what do we know, and what can we 
ever know, of the world outside of ourself, with 
which we never come in contact and are never 
brought into connection in any manner? It is 
evident enough that we never get a complete or 
correct idea of any object. When we see the 
moon, we do not see it as it is. We only see one 
side of it, and the moon in one of its phases. We 
see merely a little light and shadow. How shall 
we ever know what the moon is! We never see 
things as they are, for we have absolutely no 
means of knowing what they are in the first place. 



96 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

We get some sort of impression, correct or false 
as the case may be, and with that we rest entirely 
satisfied. We observe things, we notice a certain 
number of points, and we group them together in 
our mind; then we reflect somewhat, make our 
estimates and calculations according to our ideas 
in the case, and that ends the business with us for 
all time. We seldom go farther, and that is the 
way that people usually conduct their inquiries 
and reach what they call their conclusions. But 
is this the truth! Is this all there is of truth? 
How shall we ever know? How shall anybody 
know? Certain it is, no one in this world ever 
does know. There is no proof that is accessible in 
any case — there is no such thing as demonstration. 

Are our ideas real? There is no doubt of it 
— they are the only things that are real, for us. 
But as to the objects about us, and how far they 
come toward meeting all the conditions of reality, 
there is abundant room for doubt. We see things, 
we hear things, we feel things, we think of things, 
but as to where they are or what they are, we are 
always left more or less in doubt. We know what 
we think they are, but that is quite as far as any- 
body has thus far been able to go in solving the 
riddle. We often find ourselves in error. We fre- 
quently mistake a five cent piece for a quarter; 
we never can tell with any accuracy the size, dis- 
tance, shape, or even the color of objects generally. 
A stump at a little distance, especially in a fog, 
takes the shape of a monster. In the wilderness, 
when people are out in search of game a friend is 
frequently shot down on the belief that he is either 



APPEARANCES 



97 



a deer or a bear partly concealed by foliage. In 
the Arctic regions, Peary's men, one morning, 
imagined they saw reindeer in the distance, but 
the Esquimaux, more trusty observers, assured 
them that the moving objects were men, and not 
reindeer, and so the fact proved to be. We make 
our pictures in our mind, just as the painter puts 
his conceptions on canvas. How often people 
think they see what they do not see! Some are 
able to see God in clouds, and others can make 
combinations of what they do see and thus develop 
new figures that they really do not see. We at all 
times simply see what we believe or imagine we 
see, and we never see anything else. Our illusions 
are as real as anything in our experience. We feel 
for ourself — we cannot feel for others. We never 
could see what they see and as they see it, until 
we actually stood in their places and used their 
glasses. Luther saw Devils, and the ancients saw 
gods aiding them in time of battle. The state of 
a man's mind, and his early education, have a 
great deal to do with the shape and coloring that 
he gives to objects. There are a thousand views 
of any and every object, and all of them depend 
upon the point from which they are taken. No 
object has any expression of its own; that depends 
entirely upon its surroundings. 

Do we always see a tree when we think we 
see one? Most assuredly not. Do we always see 
a man when we imagine we see one? Certainly 
we are ofttimes mistaken. The figure may be 
only the semblance of a man; it may be a woman 
dressed in man's attire. So it is in all cases, we 



9S 



NEW VIEWS OX OLD SUBJECTS 



see only what we believe we see. When we think 
we see a tree, we see only what recalls snch an ob- 
ject to mind. It may be only a painted or pre- 
tended tree. A word, a picture, a shadow, or a 
hieroglyphic would answer the same purpose. 
The office of each and all these devices is merely 
to suggest something to the observer. How shall 
we ever be able to say that we really see things? 
In our minds certain spots on the face of the 
moon grouped together resemble human features, 
and the conclusion we arrive at is that there is a 
man there. Some notice a group of stars in the 
sky and imagine they see the form of a dipper. 
And yet we all know that in this, as in thousands 
of similar cases, the error comes from indistinct- 
ness of observation. We can see in many cases 
what is or has been, but can we ever see the 
sequence, something which follows, but which as 
yet does not exist ? Can we see a result or a con- 
clusion before we reach it? 

But whether things outside of us are real 
or not. our thoughts, our visions, our dreams, are 
unquestionably so. at least for ourselves. If we 
do not see things in our thoughts, dreams and re- 
membrance, most assuredly we never see them at 
all. What is the difference between actually 
hearing things and merely thinking we hear them I 
When we think we hear things, we hear them, and 
when we do not think we hear them, unquestion- 
ably we fail to hear them. So we see things wherj 
we think we see them, and never at any other time. 
It is not the thing before us that we see. but the 



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things that are pictured and treasured up in our 
memory. 

There are plenty of things that certainly ex- 
ist and yet they do not affect our senses. All the 
objects around us have some kind of qualities — 
these objects are sweet, sour, hot, cold, high, low, 
large or small. In fact, things are known by their 
qualities or attributes, and if they had no quali- 
ties, they simply would not exist. But attributes 
or qualities are not things to be seen or felt; in 
fact, they do not exist at all independent of the 
objects which are supposed to possess them. 
Sweetness, coldness, heat, size, time, motion, are 
things not to be seen or handled. They are never 
observed floating in the air or skulking around in 
hidden places. They are in the mind of the ob- 
server, and not in the objects that are believed to 
possess them. Sweetness and coldness are not 
things that can be taken on or put off as people 
do with garments. Qualities, it is well known, 
are entirely and exclusively a relative matter, and 
not something with an existence properly its own. 
Things may be high and low, or hot and cold, at 
one and the same time — high compared with a 
dwarf, and low compared with a giant, or hot com- 
pared with marble, and cold compared with a 
furnace. 

Whether all the things that we see are want- 
ing in what is called an existence, still remains 
an open question; but that we see, feel, and think 
of things that cannot be said to exist on their own 
account, seems to be unquestionably true. We do 
not see God, yet we think and talk of God; we 



100 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

do not see, and could not paint or represent in 
any manner, such things as sound, electricity, 
government, the state, beauty, reason, light, and 
a very large portion of the things that we talk 
about most frequently and most freely. It is quite 
evident that we see and feel in our thoughts a host 
of things that have no independent existence what- 
ever. We see things in our dreams and imagina- 
tion as really as we ever see them. So we see 
things that come up through memory. In fact 
we never see things at any time save through mem- 
ory. A glance never enables us to see things; it 
is the impression always that we rely on. If we 
had no memory, could we see things 1 What good 
would it do us to see things that left no impres- 
sion, and which therefore we failed to remember? 

Things are kept alive in our thoughts and are 
preserved in our memory by means of signs — usu- 
ally words, sometimes pictures and sketches, some- 
times hieroglyphics, and sometimes sculptured 
figures. Quantities in algebra and numbers in 
arithmetic are represented by certain letters and 
figures, and they finally come to stand for things 
precisely as words and pictures do. A very natu- 
ral result is that things used originally as signs 
become ultimately things themselves and they are 
so treated. So the sculptured marble merely rep- 
resenting Jupiter at first comes finally to be taken 
for the god himself, and it is so worshipped. Our 
Bible is worshipped by Christians in the same 
way, because it is supposed to be given to man by 
inspiration, and to be really the word of God is- 



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sued in book form by himself, for man's con- 
venience. 

How can we see things correctly and describe 
them properly when it is a fact, in most cases, that 
we have no acquaintance with them and they are 
forever changing? A century modifies the whole 
face of the globe, more of course in some places 
than in others, the destructive agencies not being 
earthquakes and storms alone, but the rains, the 
winds, the frosts and the floods. Everything is 
continually changing its form and appearance. 
How could we describe it or characterize it fairly ? 
Nothing stands alone or disconnected. How could 
we describe it or picture it as something apart 
from the world? With all our efforts in that di- 
rection, it is certain we meet with only partial 
success. 

We are constantly being deceived by appear- 
ances, as is well known, and yet appearances are 
the main thing that we depend on in all the affairs 
of life. In fact, appearances are almost the only 
thing that most people care for. If they can only 
keep up appearances, they imagine that that an- 
swers the whole purpose. We call an animal a fox 
because it resembles a fox. We see a bird flying, 
and we call it a hawk, when we find on closer in- 
spection that it is a dove and not a hawk. 

Most people imagine that they must call 
things by some name and give them some charac- 
ter, even though they are obliged to confess that 
they know nothing about them. They think that 
the wrong word is better than no word at all, and 
so they go on wholly at random, and talk as they 



102 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

please. A creature may look like a horse, at a dis- 
tance, and still it may not be a horse. It may be 
a cow, or a calf, or possibly only a pig. People 
do not usually take steps to ascertain the truth 
in such cases, because it is too much trouble. At 
great distances, and especially in the night time, 
all things are apt to look alike. In such cases it 
is better to say nothing, and by so doing people 
will avoid exposing their ignorance. It very often 
happens that we cannot tell a solid from a liquid, 
ice from water, or the hard rock from a coating 
of snow. We do not know whether the object no- 
ticed is a mile off, or only a quarter of that dis- 
tance; and still we are ready to assume that 
we always see things as they are ! Would it not be 
more sensible to inquire if we ever see things as 
they are? Thus, we notice an immense building 
in our travels. How shall we know what it is, or 
what to call it? We shall have to inquire. Our 
eyes will not tell us, no matter how acute or how 
perfect our vision. Our nose will not help us, nei- 
ther will our ears or our tongue. The only way to 
get at the truth, in this case, is to appeal to out- 
side sources, and even then we are liable to be 
misled or mistaken. The building may be a con- 
vent, it may be barracks for soldiers, it may be 
a prison, it may be a fortress, or it may. be a 
palace. 

Appearances alone will often deceive. Some- 
times a telescope will help us, and sometimes an 
opera glass would do better. Sometimes nothing 
would be of avail. We must often grope our way 
in the dark. But what is foolish on our part is 



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to pretend to see when we do not see. Ignorance 
is always inconvenient or disagreeable, but it is 
not always disgraceful. There are many things 
that even the wisest of men do not know. Some 
things it seems impossible for anybody to learn. 
After all, ignorance is to be preferred to willful- 
ness. Why not come out candidly, confess our 
ignorance, and done with it? We may thus have 
the sympathies of the people, if not their esteem 
or admiration. 

As a general thing, so far as the seeing of 
objects is concerned, when we observe them, we 
usually see things as W e happen to be, and in ac- 
cordance with impressions which we ourselves 
may have formed. Things appear beautiful, not 
because they necessarily are so in themselves, but 
because they please us and are in accord with our 
notions of beauty. This, we may note, is a very 
different matter from seeing things as they are. 
Instead of seeing things as they are, most people 
after all see things as they themselves happen to 
feel. Two people who witness the same occur- 
rence describe it differently, for reasons that are 
quite obvious. One observes one thing, and the 
other observes something else that is going on at 
the same time ; one notices all that occurs, and the 
other is careless and inattentive, and hence over- 
looks many points that are important ; in his feel- 
ings, one person favors one side as a matter of 
preference; and one is found to have a poor mem- 
ory, while the other remembers what he sees ex- 
ceptionally well. Events, as is well known, are 
made up of a great many occurrences, and no ob- 



104 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

server is able to see and appreciate them all. Is 
it any wonder that the two give an entirely differ- 
ent account of the same transaction? We should 
not expect any two men to paint alike. Is there 
any reason why we should expect any two men to 
write or narrate alike ? To witness an occurrence 
is precisely like looking at a picture; we may un- 
derstand the performance and what it means, and 
we may not. That all depends upon how we are 
instructed, and how much we know. Every event 
or occurrence is simply a movement, precisely like 
any movement — a performance such as we see 
upon the stage. What difference does it make 
whether the show is real or merely make-believe ? 
Every step taken is independent of any other step. 
How shall we proceed to connect the individual 
parts? How shall we interpret the drama, real 
or fictitious, as the case may prove to be ? 

No matter how near to an object we may be. 
no matter how carefully we scrutinize it, we never 
get an impression wholly from what the eye re- 
veals to us. From the eye, or the senses directly, 
we learn very little. Before we reach our conclu- 
sion in any case, we make a hasty study of the 
features presented, and we quickly form an opin- 
ion. For instance, we see an object in the dis- 
tance, and we ask ourself what it may be. Is it a 
man or a woman, or some young person?' Is it 
presumably A, B, or C ? We look at the dress, 
the gait, the size, the motions, and finally we reach 
a decision — like all other decisions, either correct 
or false. The matter of distance we decide largely 
by the apparent size of the object, diminished more 



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or less from the ordinary size as the case may be ; 
and the shape and form we determine in our mind 
by noticing the shading or coloring. It cannot be 
impressed too strongly upon the reader's mind 
that the eye alone gives but very little reliable in- 
formation in regard to the tone, features and char- 
acter of the object observed. It does not tell us 
either the distance, or the figure, or the dimen- 
sions. It determines the color only under certain 
conditions. We have to make an estimate on 
these and many other things before we can form 
an opinion that we can trust; and even then, with 
all our care and pains, we often find that we are 
mistaken. We see the sun, moon, and stars, ap- 
parently very plainly, as we have observed them 
from our youth down to the present time. But 
yet what single fact or feature do we really know 
about any one of these heavenly bodies? Do we 
know their distance, do we know their form, do 
we know anything of their history or character ? 
They are supposed to be globes, but that they are 
so, is by no means certain. Surely our earth is 
not a globe. The moon appears to us as large as 
the sun, but we know it is not. The moon is in 
fact the smallest of the heavenly bodies visible to 
the naked eye. 

As a rule we see but few features, few points, 
in any object; our mind is not capable of grasping 
many features at one time. We see a few things, 
while a great many other things just as important 
entirely escape our notice. When we meet people, 
we think we distinguish them by their counte- 
nances. Sometimes we do, when they are near, but 



106 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



more frequently we decide from the gait, dress or 
manner, and often simply by the voice. We know 
people, as we recognize objects generally, not by 
observing them or scrutinizing them as a whole, 
but by certain simple signs. Eeally, we repeat, 
we never give our attention to more than one 
thing at a time. 

All our impressions are the result of nothing 
but conclusions, formed by taking certain things 
into account, suppressing certain other things per- 
haps equally noticeable, and finally reaching our 
decision. We may not be conscious of the mental 
operation at the time, but it certainly exists in 
every case. With us everything is inference. We 
often get wrong impressions, not because we see 
wrong, or are deceived, but because we reason 
wrong and draw improper conclusions from cer- 
tain premises. In other words, we fail to handle 
the evidence properly. Here is to be found the 
source of most of the errors that eventually come 
to be incorporated with our thoughts and belief. 

Our minds, like our bodies, are always active; 
we are always conjuring up something, and it 
seems to matter little to us whether it turns out 
to be fact or fiction. We are always having con- 
victions and reaching conclusions. We not only 
give character to things, both to those which we 
know and those which we do not know, but we 
are constantly doing the same thing for groups of 
objects. 

But how can we rationally give a character to 
a group? Does a group have a character? Does 
a group actually exist I There are Individual ob- 



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jects all around us. Is there something beside 
these objects, hidden away somewhere, and unseen 
by our eyes I For instance, there is a company of 
one hundred men. Do the individuals exist at the 
same time! It must be either one or the other — 
the company or the men. However, this intricate 
and important question has always been discussed, 
and yet a decision satisfactory to all has never yet 
been reached. We talk about the English as men, 
and then we consider their merits as a people. 
But where is the people, what is the people, aside 
from the individuals of which the whole body is 
composed? There is no such people apart from 
the individual Englishmen, and so there is no 
character in this case for us to consider. 

There is no such thing in existence as a body, 
a group, a class, a company, a state, a society. 
We talk a great deal about such matters, as we do 
about a great many other things quite as unsub- 
stantial, but it is all the work of our mind — pure 
moonshine at last. What we talk about in all 
such cases is ghostlike in character, being matters 
arising in the imagination of men and confined 
wholly within such boundaries. A state does 
nothing, a people does nothing, a company does 
nothing. All the work that is done in this world, 
in the state or out of the state, is done by individuals. 
Groups cannot achieve, cannot accomplish, because 
they have no aim, no purpose. Groups have no 
character, no qualities, and therefore we cannot 
describe them. We cannot even know them. We 
can talk about them, dream about them, as we do 
about other imaginary things, but that is as far as 



108 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

we can go. We cannot paint groups. We can 
paint only individuals — and these only one at a time. 
We can characterize two men separately — one may 
be black, and the other white. But what shall we 
predicate of the two together, in the matter of 
color? 

The question of plurals, as apart from things 
that are singular, is identical with the one we have 
just been considering under the head of groups. 
Where are the plurals, the things repeated, multi- 
plied, increased, the things counted over and over 
again and still remaining what they were? 
Where are they found to exist f Only in the imag- 
ination of men, where not only pictures but all 
abstract and impersonal things have their origin. 
In language, the plural and singular forms are sub- 
stantially one and the same thing; books, if it be 
anything, is only a form of the word book — nothing 
added to it and nothing different from it in any 
way. But, really, the word book, like other things, 
can have but one form, and that being the fact, 
neither books, nor any other word, can be an addi- 
tional form. Of course there is no such thing as 
plurality, outside the thoughts of man. Things in 
practice cannot be counted twice. Things cannot 
be heaped up, at least a thing cannot, for it is all 
alone by itself at all times. Things cannot be in- 
creased; the moment a half pound becomes a 
pound — if it ever could — it would cease to be a 
half pound thereafter. Things cannot be dimin- 
ished. When six becomes four, if it ever does, it 
ceases to be six. In reality things never change; 
they cannot even be extended. They may in 



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thought, hut never in practice. The moment a 
thing becomes what a moment before it was not, 
it disappears forever. 

And still we go on persisting, as we have done 
from the beginning, that we see and think only of 
things that have a substantial existence of their 
own! The fact is, undoubtedly, quite otherwise. 
It is our thoughts only that occupy our attention, 
but thoughts are not things, and they have no con- 
nection with things. Things do not produce 
thoughts any more than things produce statues, or 
pictures, or books. They may serve as an occa- 
sion for thought, to a limited extent, but beyond 
that they have no effect on the mind. The mo- 
ment the mind begins with its thinking process, it 
goes on indefinitely without any reference to 
things in actual existence. With the help of a 
comparatively few words, which are nothing but 
mere signs of things, men go on and build up a 
mound of literature, which again is always mere 
thought. So in algebra and geometry, given a few 
unmeaning signs and figures and axioms, all being 
man-made, and operations go on in our mind un- 
ceasingly, and with wonderful results. Every- 
thing that is done in this world seems to be the 
work of men, and in all cases it is the work of the 
mind. Men are concerned only about the works 
of men; men know only men. No animal really 
knows any other animal but one of its class. It 
is impossible for any being to go outside of its own 
sphere. 

Qualities, we know, are not things. They do 
not even exist. Qualities are merely things that 



110 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



appear to us. We know that objects are not really 
hot. They only appear hot. They are not lofty, 
they only appear lofty. They are not round, they 
only appear round. Nothing ever proves to be 
what it appeared to be originally. Appearance is 
not reality, and it never can be. A room may be 
made to look higher and longer or deeper by cer- 
tain arrangements made in the interior of the 
building, as we see in the ruined temples of Egypt 
to-day. Everybody notices that a lady looks tall 
in a long dress and short in a short dress. Ap- 
pearance is merely one phase of things, and is only 
for the moment; as things appear to be at one time 
to one person, they do not appear at another time 
to another person necessarily. We imagine that 
the weight of a body is something fixed and de- 
termined, but it is not. It weighs less in water 
than it does in air, and less at the equator than it 
does at the poles. Location and surroundings de- 
termine weight, as they do other things. 

As to matter, or the material of things, people 
think that it has some permanent characteristic or 
quality of its own. But matter is in fact only a 
formless thing hardly differing from quality in its 
ethereal nature. It is something of which things 
are supposed to be made, but it is not a thing itself. 
It is -only matter so long as it is the material of 
which things are formed. We can talk about it 
and think about it. We can say anything about it 
that we choose, with perfect safety, and if we hap- 
pen to make a mistake in our assumptions, nobody 
will ever know it, for everybody else knows as lit- 
tle about matter as we do — and that is simply 



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nothing at all. As much as this, we know, may be 
said of heat, sound, electricity, virtue, justice, rea- 
son, and pretty nearly everything else of this char- 
acter. We can have the pleasure of thinking and 
writing about things a whole life-time, but it seems 
to be forbidden to all alike to know anything posi- 
tive about their true nature. 

Here it may be noticed that while one thing is 
never the plural of another, and things, as we have 
intimated, can never be repeated or multiplied, it 
is pretty generally conceded that there are no sim- 
ple, single things in nature. When we see a thing 
single, that is merely a matter of vision, and what 
we see is merely phenomenon or appearance. A 
tree appears single, and yet we know it has an 
infinite number of parts; there are leaves, 
branches, bark, buds, blossoms, trunk and roots. 
They are not properly parts of a thing, — a part of 
a thing is not a reality, but an imaginary existence. 
Parts are properly distinct and independent 
wholes, as much so as anything can be. In many 
cases a branch, or even a leaf, or a root, may be 
cut off and put into the ground, and it will grow 
and become a complete tree. The same thing 
occurs in the lower orders of the animal creation, 
as the polypes, where a bud or a joint may be cut 
off and grow and become a new individual. A 
crab may lose its claw and a new one will grow in 
its place. This is strikingly and unpleasantly ex- 
emplified in the case of the tapeworm. 

Everything is accustomed to appear single to 
our eyes, because we are in the habit of looking at 
it as a whole. We look at a cord in this way, 



112 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



though we know it is made of strands. So we 
look at a vast army of men as a whole. A stream 
or current that flows by we regard as single, when 
we know very well that it is made up of a great 
number of lesser currents. Even a house, or a 
castle, we look upon as a single thing, though we 
know it is made up of an indefinite number of 
small but independent parts. It is the same with 
a tune, a sentence, a book, and indeed with any- 
thing with which we come in contact, or which we 
may have in our minds. There are no simple, single 
or elementary things to be found. 

Every living animal must be made up of a 
certain number of subordinate parts. Every ani- 
mal is and must be an organization, and where 
there is organization, there must be subordina- 
tion. The animal could not exist without its vari- 
ous organs. Indeed, without them it would be no 
animal; neither could any of the organs exist 
without the body as a whole. The animal must 
live and move and have its being, and to meet that 
condition, it must devour and digest. To aid in 
doing this work, certain organs are indispensa- 
able. No animal could exist for any considerable 
length of time without a brain, a stomach, liver 
and a heart. But subordinate as these and other 
parts evidently are, they do their work on their 
own account, as if they were intelligent and in- 
dependent existences. 

Just so the state and society is an organiza- 
tion. The state could not do without its depart- 
ments, and the departments without the state 
would be compelled to go out of business. But 



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here we see, as we see in nature frequently, one 
department, sometimes the executive, sometimes 
the judiciary, and sometimes the legislative 
branch, encroaching upon the domain of some 
other department, and either trying to set up in 
business on its own account or endeavoring to 
subsist at the expense of the state as a whole, 
without performing its proper share of labor. 
That one department should attempt to cast its 
own burden upon some other, is a very common 
phenomenon, not only in the state but wherever 
organization exists. In the human system, the 
organs of the body find it difficult to decide, ap- 
parently, what work in the way of secretion or 
excretion should be done by the liver, what by 
the kidneys, and what by the skin. It very often 
happens that one organ is called upon to do the 
work of another organ. 

Bearing in mind what we have said as to 
how things are, and how they appear, let us dwell 
a moment on the proof and legal evidence by 
which facts are supposed to be demonstrated, and 
on which proof cases in court are decided either 
one way or the other. Is evidence in court mate- 
rially different from ordinary testimony, and is it 
any more reliable than what is found in everyday 
life? Not in the least. Evidence in court is all 
hearsay, and like all such testimony, it depends 
very largely upon the feelings of the witness and 
his habits of correct observation. People are uni- 
formly sure they are right, especially when they 
testify with their hands upon the Holy Bible. 
They take no account of the chances of their being 



114 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



mistaken, either from weakness of memory or lack 
of due attention to what seems to be the minor 
points in the case. When such evidence is 
brought to the test, witnesses are often found to 
be seriously in error. There are too many things 
that people think they know but do not know. 

The best evidence in this direction is given in 
Current Literature, October, 1907: Suppose a hun- 
dred people are asked from memory to indicate 
on paper how the six is marked on the face of 
ordinary watches, how many would be able to 
state or show the fact as it is? Very few would 
remember that the hour is not marked at all, the 
second hand having the place of IA. Want of 
correct observation in the ordinary affairs of life 
is remarkably common, and still most people have 
unlimited confidence in what they happen to learn 
from a mere glance, or from the most casual in- 
spection. 

Before closing this part of our inquiry, we 
will dwell more particularly, for a while, upon 
such subjects as Size, Distance, Time and Motion. 
These are matters that have become quite as im- 
portant, in the course of mental development, as 
things that are known to be far more substantial. 
It seems, that everything, for us, begins with a 
thought and ends with a thought, and all we have 
and all we know at last is merely a thought. The 
moment we form an image or idea of a thing, it 
becomes real for us, and we treat it with full as 
much consideration as we would the most lasting 
or reliable thing in the world. Our ideas become 



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our idols, and we worship and adore them pre- 
cisely as the ancients adored their images, which 
of course were only the embodiment of an idea. 
We consult our ideas, we trust them, we sacrifice 
to them, and we turn to them for counsel and di- 
rection. So we trust not only in God and the 
state, but also in our ideas of the sun, sound, elec- 
tricity, gravity, justice, evidence, morality, edu- 
cation. We know they are for us only ideas, but 
they are our ideas, and we trust in them implicitly. 
So it is with time, distance, motion, and size. We 
know they are only conceptions or notions of ours, 
and that nothing that corresponds with them can 
be found anywhere in nature; yet we practically 
adore and idolize them, giving them a very large 
share of our thought and attention. We even 
dwell upon our age and count the days and years 
we have lived, as if it were really a fact that we 
individually had lived thus long, and so long only! 
It should be noted that the uncultivated races do 
not dwell upon their age in any such way. As a 
general thing they neither know nor care about 
their age. They take little note of time. 

We know that size has nothing to do with 
the properties of bodies. A small dollar goes just 
as far as a large dollar — if it is only a dollar. An 
ounce of butter is butter just as sixteen ounces is, 
if it is only genuine. Nobody supposes that dis* 
tance affects the character of an object in any 
manner or at any time; a horse is purely a horse, 
either at ten feet or a mile distant. And as to 
time and motion, the earth is the earth to-day, to- 
morrow and forever. It is simply the earth under 



116 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



all conditions. So it is with words. Nothing 
could be more vapory or more imaginary than 
words, and yet what has a greater influence than 
words on the history and progress of man! How 
shall we be able to affirm that the material world, 
so-called, is more real, more potent, than things 
that are known to be spiritual and merely born of 
the imagination? Is it not a fact well recognized 
by thinking men that the spiritual world is rising 
in importance, in America as in other countries? 

If things have sizes, they ought to have at 
least several sizes, and if they have form, they 
ought not to be confined to any one form. And 
yet what is the proper size or form of any object, 
a tree for instance? Has a tree any proper or 
peculiar size or form? Most certainly not, for it 
is continually changing what is supposed to be its 
form. Could the form of a circle or square be 
changed? What shall we call the proper form of 
a house, or of a mountain, or of a hippopotamus? 
The only real forms are geometrical forms — 
squares, circles, triangles, polygons. But where 
do we find these forms in our daily walks? We 
are supposed to find them in crystals, but we find 
even these to be anything but complete and sym- 
metrical forms. So in the arrangement of 
branches of trees, there is always a plan, but it 
is never followed. The same is true of the types 
that are to be noticed in the animal creation. 
Does nature ever present a complete or perfect 
form, a circle, a square, a perfect cylinder, a 
globe, a cone, or a polygon, for instance ? We are 
reminded of the beautiful and regular forms in 



APPEARANCES 



117 



the flowers that we see, but they are never perfect, 
as a man 's face is never perfect. There is always 
something apparently lacking, something awry, 
in whatever nature does. No two eyes, or two 
ears, or two sides of the face are ever symmetrical. 
How could they be, when they exist under differ- 
ent conditions and are different in their location? 
Perfect forms are confined almost exclusively to 
figures that are presented on paper or other sur- 
faces. Symmetry may exist in our ideas, but not 
in the products of the earth. No two individuals 
grow up under like conditions, and so they never 
have the same form. Nature never seems to finish 
its work, and its productions are always growing, 
always developing, always changing. It is gener- 
ally believed, and in the Bible it is stated that the 
world was made in six days. But there is evi- 
dently a mistake about that. It must have taken 
longer than six days. Indeed, the job is not yet 
done! As already intimated, nature has no plan 
— or at least it never follows one. 

How can a creature, a man for instance, be 
said to have size, when he has no fixed or deter- 
minate shape of his own and is constantly varying 
in what is supposed to be his form? How large 
was Henry Clay? That depends upon many 
points. Perhaps he was not large at all. Is a 
man large because he is tall, or because he is broad 
or deep ? Is he large because he has great weight ? 
Iron is heavier than wood, but is it larger? It 
will be noticed that view the matter as we will, 
size is one of the most variable and uncertain of all 
things. Why talk about the size or shape of man, 



118 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

or the size or shape of anything, a bridge, for in- 
stance? How shall we measure a man's size? 
Shall we measure his arms, his head, his feet and 
his legs 1 We would measure the tentacles of the 
cuttlefish and the tail of the alligator. It must 
not be forgotten that size at all times is simply 
and solely a relative matter, and everything de- 
pends upon the scale or standard followed. Size 
is something that merely appears, and it con- 
stantly varies. It is merely an idea that comes 
from observation and conclusions, and it is never in 
things themselves. Things, it is very well known, ap- 
pear large to some and small to others. Size can- 
not be pictured, because it does not exist. If we 
wanted to represent a ball two inches in diameter, 
we could do so with a figure a quarter of an inch 
in diameter ; and this same figure would answer as 
well for a ball two feet in diameter. Again, size 
implies extent, but to extend is to be at two or 
more points or places at the same time, which is 
impossible for any body. A body is a point, prop- 
erly considered. 

Quantity is identical with size. But do 
things have quantity ? Does quantity affect their 
nature in any way? How much quantity does a 
leaf have, a book, a house, a river? How can we 
measure the quantity of things, of a fortress, or a 
moose, for instance? It is evident enough that 
quantity has nothing to do with things, as has 
been stated repeatedly. If there is quantity any- 
where, it is in liquids and in things that have a 
liquid character. And even there the question is 
not changed; it is simply more involved. The 



APPEARANCES 



119 



term size and quantity cannot apply to individ- 
uals; we cannot have more or less of anything. 
It must be all or none. It takes just so much to 
make a pound or a dollar, and the moment the 
least particle is added or taken away the pound 
or the dollar ceases to be what it was and quickly 
disappears. Nowhere in all the realms of nature 
do we find more or less of things or even parts of 
things. Such nondescripts do not exist. We 
know very well that in no case does size or quan- 
tity affect quality or character. No matter how 
much a circle or a square expands, its form always 
remains what it was. A square, large or small, al- 
ways has four equal sides, and all circles have the 
same number of degrees, without regard to size. 

Nothing comes up in our conversation, or in 
our writing, more frequently than matters per- 
taining either to time or motion, and yet who is 
there that can tell us what time or motion is, or 
where it is to be found! It certainly is not in 
things, nor is it connected with things — so much 
is beyond all doubt. Time and motion occupy an 
exalted position in our thoughts and receive a 
great amount of our most devoted attention. But 
what are they ? Nobody answers, because nobody knows. 
Time and motion are never found in pictures. It 
is not possible to represent them in any way, be- 
cause they have neither character, form nor sub- 
stance, and they really do not exist. It is true 
that latterly we have moving pictures, but they 
are the result of manipulation and are simply an 
illusion. 

Time and motion are not in things nor of 



120 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



things. They are a sort of invisible vapor in 
which things are supposed to be immersed. The 
attempt is often made to give history in the form 
of a series of pictures, but it always proves a fail- 
ure, because it is impossible to trace any connec- 
tion between the pictures. They are clearly inde- 
pendent of each other and there is no connecting 
link between them. Such a failure as we have just 
indicated is most noticeable in those sketches by 
Hogarth which were intended to represent the 
progress of " marriage-a-la-mode. ' ' Indeed with- 
out the accompanying explanation, nobody would 
have the slightest idea what the pictures were sup- 
posed to signify. The idea of connection between 
things is a false one; nothing of the kind exists in 
nature, outside of the minds of men. If two 
things are connected, they would become one. 
Two things may be tied or linked together, but 
that is not connection. 



If there is any topic that might properly be 
introduced under the head of truth, it would seem 
to be Education. It is generally supposed that 
we attend school and college to acquire knowledge, 
and that when we gain knowledge we secure the 
truth. But is it a common experience to find that 
knowledge and truth are one and the same thing? 
Are our learned men and professors the ones to 
whom we must apply for our regular supply of 
truth and wisdom! No, this can hardly be as- 
serted as a fact. Truth is not like gold the prop- 



EDUCATION 



121 



erty of any individual, or even of any one family. 
It does not come under the head of goods sold and 
delivered, like common merchandise. However, 
we will not stop to discuss this question at this 
time, and what is to be said in connection with 
education will be introduced here : 

It is coming to be well understood among 
thinking men that our educational system is 
wrong, and the chief reason why it is wrong lies 
in the errors of our religious belief. It is a re- 
markable fact that the mind of the child, as soon 
as it is old enough to listen and remember, is 
loaded to excess with creeds, dogmas and fictions, 
all of them, as a general thing, being the accumu- 
lated rubbish of former centuries. No effort is 
made to strengthen and develop the intellect of 
the child so that it may be enabled to ascertain 
the facts of the case, and form conclusions on its 
own account. On the contrary, everything in the 
way of belief is furnished to the learner machine- 
made and ready for immediate use. Why should 
not the pupil be left to rely upon his own judg- 
ment and form for himself such conclusions as are 
best adapted to his tastes and wishes? What 
really helps the pupil is what he knows and what 
he can do. It little concerns him what others 
know and what they can do. 

As a rule, we spend our life time in unlearn- 
ing what in early life we were taught amiss. Why 
should people not be content to remain helpless 
and dependent, when dependence is what is taught 
to everybody from the cradle up ? What concern 



122 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

should we have, really, about what other people 
believe, or what Aristotle or Plato believed, two 
thousand years ago or more? We are interested 
in that alone which we ourselves have learned and 
which we have come to regard as truth and pro- 
priety. We are all of us individuals, and it is ab- 
solutely impossible for us by any effort of ours to 
emerge from the shell in which we were originally 
imprisoned. 

How could we expect to get truth into the 
head of the young man or young woman who has 
spent eight or ten years in school and college and 
has taken on a full cargo of the fictions and false 
notions that are usually furnished to the innocent 
learner by these institutions? As a matter of 
fact, all that the pupil should expect to learn at 
school is the art of education — how to read, write 
and cipher — leaving the science to be obtained as 
he progresses later on. Instead of being taught 
what things are> he should be left to inquire and 
find out on his own account how things are. No- 
body eats so heartily as the one who has acquired 
an appetite. Let the pupil get a hunger for knowl- 
edge, and then he will learn readily. How things 
are, it must be remembered, in science, art and 
elsewhere, is merely a matter of opinion, and only 
a matter of opinion at last. And why is not one 
man 's opinion as good as that of another man f I 
place but little value on education as we have it 
in schools, either ethical, religious or otherwise. 
Education is not something to be fed with a spoon, 
either to children or grown people. Let those who 



EDUCATION 



123 



want knowledge hunt and hanker for it in the first 
place. 

What does education do, and what has it done 
for centuries past, to elevate and improve the 
condition of mankind ? What has it done, what is 
it doing to-day, to promote the cause of truth? Its 
mission seems to be to teach not what people know, 
or what they have lately discovered, but what 
people were supposed to know, several hundreds 
or thousands of years ago. People at all times 
have adored the classics, and they adore them yet, 
for no other reason it would seem, than that they 
happen to be ancient. Worship of ancestors has 
long prevailed. For hundreds of years, and espe- 
cially during the Middle Ages, the universities all 
over Europe were founded upon Plato and Aris- 
totle — particularly upon the latter. The wise 
men of those days were very much like the wise 
men of the present day; they had few if any orig- 
inal ideas of their own, on cosmogony, psychology, 
and other important topics, and so they picked up 
their ideas here and there in such ancient manu- 
scripts as happened to be accessible. The stu- 
dents of that period were expected to translate 
Greek and Latin freely, so that they might read 
the classics in the original. But what a waste of 
time and money! However, when people get into 
a bad habit, it seems to take them a long time to 
get out of it — and it might be added that it takes 
literary and professional men a longer time to 
switch off on a new track than it does any other 
class of individuals. When people are sure they 
are right, and everybody says they are right, it 



124 NEW VIEWS OX OLD SUBJECTS 

takes an unusually long time to convince them that 
they are mistaken, and it is well known that some 
folks never reach that point in all their career. 

If we have instructors in our schools and col- 
leges, it would seem that they ought to teach what 
they themselves know. Instead of that they are 
accustomed to teach what they find in the text 
books, and only what is found in them. To teach 
what is not found in the text books, or what is con- 
trary to the revelations found in these works, 
would be rank heresy, and of course it is strictly 
forbidden. Here it might be added that the an- 
cients did not teach in that way. They had few 
books, or none at all; they had some manuscripts, 
but no text books as we use the term. The teach- 
ers in those days were like the Moslem teachers of 
the present day, talkers and reasoners, rather than 
instructors. They had no schools in our sense; 
they had disciples and followers, but no classes. 
In the courts of the mosques, even to-day, the 
pupils or students, usually grown persons, squat 
on mats and listen to the words of the one who 
does the talking. Sometimes they ask ques- 
tions and engage in discussions with the one who 
acts as teacher. It might be noted that the Ma- 
hometans have but one text book, and that is the 
Koran. The Koran is also their book of funda- 
mental law. Our Bible was also for a long time 
a book of law, but it has no such authority now. 

The signs of a revolution in American 
thought, on this subject, are just coming to be ap- 
parent. The public as a whole has been too busy 
with other questions to give much attention or 



EDUCATION 



125 



consideration to our methods or system of edu- 
cation. Whether our people are following the 
worst or the wisest methods, in the work done in 
our schools and colleges, very few seem to have the 
time or the inclination to inquire. But those who 
read our leading magazines and newspapers con- 
taining advanced American thought cannot have 
failed to notice that there is something doing just 
now on this matter of education. Plenty of able 
and eloquent men have spoken out boldly in con- 
demnation of the defective system of education, so- 
called, that prevails all over our broad land. 

Not long since, Harold E. Gorst, of England, 
while addressing a body of educators in New York, 
took pains to declare himself the apostle of an en- 
tirely new system of education, one which, he said, 
would not kill the God-given gifts of the child, 
leaving in their place " a lot of useless book-learn- 
ing. ' ' He believes in developing the natural gifts 
and aptitudes of the child. Our present system 
does not do this. It rather aims to crush out the 
thoughts and purposes that nature gave him. 
The plan of the schools is to develop uniformity 
and to destroy individuality as fast and as far as 
practicable. 

Let no one suppose for a moment that the 
American people are going to worship indefinitely 
the educational calf as they are doing just now, 
and as they have been doing for half a century. 
No sacrifice is too great at present, if it is made 
for education — education and charity ! It used to 
be the Church and charity, but latterly the church 
has been thrown very much in the shade, and the 



126 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

Bible itself has become simply a back number. 
And really it is quite impossible to have more than 
one God, or one fetich, before us at a time. So we 
go on sacrificing and suffering for education, with- 
out any regard for the matter either of time or 
expense. We not only build school houses like 
palaces, but we equip them like palaces. Every- 
thing in connection with education is carried out 
on the same magnificent scale. We are reminded 
of the splendor of the temples of ancient times. 
The people pay the bill, and money is no object 
worth considering. It is stated that in England, 
and no doubt it is much the same in America, when 
a student has well-to-do parents, it costs about 
$25,000 to get a promising and lively lad through 
college! But is the venture worth the outlay? 
Does it pay? Is the young man himself worth the 
money when he completes his course and is ready 
for business f Moreover, what particular business 
is the young man fitted for when all is said and 
done ? I would certainly like to know. It should 
be noted that pupils are sent to school ostensibly to 
acquire knowledge. But who knows what knowl- 
edge is ? Who is able to recognize it when he en- 
counters it % As a rule, it is well known, that peo- 
ple never inquire what unquestionably is knowl- 
edge. They readily accept anything that is of- 
fered under that name, just as they do when any- 
thing is offered under the name of truth. The in- 
difference of people in this direction is simply 
astonishing. Pupils are not taught to do things, 
for it is not assumed that they will ever be called 



EDUCATION 



127 



upon to perform manual labor. They are to live 
by their wits, while the parents are supposed to 
do all the work that may be necessary. 

The leading problem for this world is not so 
much how to acquire knowledge as how to use it 
properly when it is acquired. But, unfortunately, 
it is a problem that seems to give both pupil 
and teacher very little concern. The chief aim of 
modern educationalists appears to be in the direc- 
tion of athletics and physical culture. Just how 
much they may have in view beyond this, has 
never yet been clearly ascertained. It is quite cer- 
tain, however, that under our present educational 
system, the virtues are not generally treated as 
matters of prime importance, and no great effort 
seems to be put forth to impress upon the young 
the duty of being either strictly upright or moder- 
ately industrious. Indeed, it is undoubtedly a 
fact that many pupils have imbibed the notion 
that by securing an education they shall be able 
to avoid the embarrassing conditions that are usu- 
ally associated with a life of industry and upright- 
ness. 

The imperfections of our modern system of 
education can be seen to the greatest advantage by 
contrasting this system with the methods pursued 
and the lessons inculcated by the ancients, nota- 
bly the Greeks, the Romans and the Persians. The 
teachings that prevailed among these peoples were 
entirely different in aim and object from those 
which are found in our educational institutions at 
the present day. The purpose of the ancients was 



128 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

to have their sons grow up and become useful and 
worthy men. They aimed to have them as perfect 
in body and mind as possible. It was not their 
purpose to make learned men of their sons, but 
to render them at the same time honest, discreet 
and thoughtful. From the outset the sons always 
knew their places and they never failed in the per- 
formance of the duties assigned to them. They 
were always respectful to their elders, and to them 
they uniformly gave due homage and attention. 
They were not puffed up with conceit, and they 
were neither boastful nor proud. They were re- 
tiring rather than audacious, and modest rather 
than arrogant. They were taught to bear the ills 
and aches of life without murmuring. If there 
was labor to be performed, they never sought to 
relieve themselves of the burden by contriving 
some excuse or resorting to some maneuver. No 
well-bred boy in those days ever thought of being 
specially favored, because of either his beauty or 
his smartness. 

The status of education in America is some- 
thing quite exceptional. The prevailing notion 
among the people of this country is that every one 
should have an education, and yet what education 
really is, and what its chief purpose should be, has 
never yet, by them, been either ascertained or de- 
fined. The leading criticism against our colleges 
is that they have no special aim. There seems 
to be nothing in particular, in the way of educa- 
tion, that they have set about doing. But what 
can be effected through any agency without some 



EDUCATION 



129 



specific aim! It cannot be said to be the aim of 
the American college to make learned men of its 
students, or even to fit them for any special place 
in society. As a rule, the results bear no compari- 
son with the time spent and the money invested. 
The activity is great in certain directions, but the 
achievement made is inconsiderable, and the gen- 
eral result is anything but satisfactory. 

It might be noted, further, that in England, 
where, as is well known, education stands upon 
a much better basis than it does in America, there 
is great dissatisfaction with certain practices that 
prevail in their public schools and their colleges, 
In 1888 a paper in the form of a vigorous protest 
was signed by four hundred leading citizens and 
educationalists, including a hundred professors 
and teachers, seventy members of parliament, be- 
sides members of the nobility, clergymen and oth- 
ers. The paper states that young men of real 
capability, at the universities, are led to believe 
that the main purpose of education is to enable 
them to win some money prize. 

The signers protest emphatically against such 
a misdirection of education, with the evils that 
necessarily arise from it. Under the prize system, 
they say all education comes to be uniformly of the 
same type. They also protest against examina- 
tions and they comment upon their evil influence. 
As episodes, they tend to neutralize the efforts of 
the best teachers. The pupil loses his own intelli- 
gent self-direction, and the teacher as well as the 
learner is more or less depressed by such a system 



130 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



as this. A protest is entered against the waste 
that is involved in these oft-recurring examina- 
tions. 



Thus far we have been discussing questions 
of truth. We have found that it is one thing at 
one time and another thing at another time; that 
it is one thing for one person under certain condi- 
tions, and another thing for another person under 
different influences. Truth is simply what men 
believe, and whatever affects their thoughts and 
opinions necessarily modifies their notions of 
truth. 

What has been said of truth in this work 
would apply equally well to morals. There is very 
little difference between the two. What is true 
must be right, and what is false must be wrong. 
And what is right! Simply what men believe to 
be right — not what all men believe to be right, and 
just and moral, but what any man believes, or 
certainly what a number of men believe to be right 
and proper. There is no such thing as right for 
all men at every stage of the world. Morality is 
merely custom, as the word mos, from which it is 
derived, would indicate. It is what men believe 
and accept; there is no other righteousness or 
propriety than this to be found. 

The best illustration of what morality and 
propriety really are, may be found in the notions 
about nakedness that prevail among people who 
dwell in cold climates. We have become very 



MORALITY 



131 



strenuous, and even very unreasonable, on this 
matter. We ourselves have become accustomed 
to wearing a superabundance of clothing, and we 
are disgusted, even enraged, because we cannot 
induce everybody else to persevere in the same 
practice. The whole business settles down at last 
to this fact, that we uniformly want other people 
to do as we do, at all times and in all places, no 
matter whether the rule that we enforce does or 
does not agree with their reason. It is generally 
supposed that the leading motive that induced 
people originally to wear clothes was to protect 
them against the rigors of the climate. But 
strenuous and precise people go above and beyond 
that now. People must cover their shame. And 
what is shame? It is something, as we all know, 
that is different for different people. The case 
is the same as it is with truth — it is one thing at 
one time, and in one place, and another thing for 
another time and place. In the East, the women 
cover their faces in order to conceal their shame, 
and please their husbands; while in America, 
women expose their faces, and often the bust be- 
side, for precisely the same reason. It should not 
be forgotten that everything that is done, or not 
done, in the matter of clothes, is done to please 
somebody — sometimes to please one's self, but 
generally to please some admirer. Our notions on 
the question of nudity are very elastic. It is a 
good thing, nudity is, under some circumstances, 
and a bad thing under other circumstances. It is 
just as you happen to consider the matter, and so 



132 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



it is with all questions of truth, right and morality. 
Everything depends upon who it is and where. 
It must not be forgotten that everybody is naked 
when his clothing is removed. The sole question 
is, where the clothes are? Are they on or off? 

And how was it with the Greeks, who were 
not savages, but were supposed to be the most 
enlightened people in the world 1 It is well known 
that the statues exposed to view everywhere, in 
the public places, were uniformly nude, with no 
attempt at covering or concealment for any part 
of the person. It is, however, well to bear in mind 
that the Greeks had forms that were healthy and 
perfect, and so they really had nothing that they 
were ashamed of or that they had any occasion to 
conceal. The case is quite different with the cul- 
tured people of the present day. With them a cer- 
tain amount of concealment seems quite proper, 
if not entirely necessary. It is feared that many 
of them would not appear well in a state of nature. 
In the gymnasiums of Greece, where the multi- 
tude of every age and rank assembled, the young 
people were accustomed to go through their exer- 
cises completely freed from clothing of every de- 
scription; and at the theaters the most beautiful 
young persons danced unclad before the eyes of 
all the Greeks. Phryne is reported to have bathed 
naked, at the Eleusinian plays, simply to please 
the crowd that had gathered to see the spectacle. 
She was representing Venus coming out from the 
water. In Sparta, girls danced entirely nude be- 
fore great crowds of men and women; and among 



MORALITY 



133 



the early Christians it was the custom for both 
sexes to be immersed in public entirely destitute of 
clothing of any kind. This is merely an evidence 
of the difference in the feelings and fancies of dif- 
ferent people under different circumstances. 

Whatever is according to law is right and 
moral always — whether it be society law, moral 
law, statute law, canon law, or common law, that 
happens to be quoted as authority. There is noth- 
ing right, and nothing wrong, in or of itself. 
There must always be some standard of com- 
parison. 

Why should we condemn a man for his moral- 
ity, or the want of it ! It is only an opinion, and 
people have different morals solely because, hav- 
ing grown up under different influences, they have 
finally come to accept certain opinions as their rule 
of life. We should always consider the age in 
which people live and the temptations and influ- 
ences to which they are known to be subjected, 
The English have one rule of right, the French 
another, the Germans another, and the Japanese 
something quite different from any of these peo- 
ples. 

Is it not strange that in this, as in other coun- 
tries, we consider murder as the wickedest of all 
crimes, and yet the state coolly and cruelly kills its 
citizens, in its wars and executions, as if it were 
doing something decidedly meritorious! It kills 
its thousands and tens of thousands. Indeed, at 
times it makes a steady business of man-killing in 
some way. It claims to have a warrant for doing 



13 4 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



such work. Then there is incest. There is quite 
a difference of opinion on that subject. Many peo- 
ples abhor it, but among others, quite enlightened, 
it is regarded as no great matter. Our Bible 
gives us information on that subject. 



PART III 



SPECIAL TOPICS 



TO SEE, TO THINK, TO KNOW 

In forming our ideas of what seeing is sup- 
posed to be, and what thinking and knowing is, 
we are assisted very much by considering how fre- 
quently these terms are used in place of each other 
and noticing how closely the thought in one case 
is allied with the thought in another case. Thus, 
we say we see, when we mean we perceive, we un- 
derstand. Seeing is really a mental or intellectual 
operation. We do not see with our eyes, but 
through our eyes, as we see through a glass. We 
see with our mind, our intellect ; so we do not per- 
ceive things when we simply open our eyes. The 
mind, the soul, the intellect, must first become 
aroused, and it must be put in working order be- 
fore we can see in the proper sense of the word. 
Merely opening the eyes, even when there is an 
object before them, will not suffice. 

When we are thinking, we are really feeling; 
and so when we see, we are also feeling. Our eyes 
are impressed with what we see precisely as our 
tongue is affected by what we taste, or as the inte- 



136 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

rior of the nose is affected by an odor. So, what 
we know is merely what we see and feel, or it indi- 
cates how we see and how we feel. We are no 
more certain about what we know than we are 
about what we feel or believe. What we know at 
last, in all cases, is merely what we think and what 
we have come to believe. What we believe and 
think and know are all one and the same thing. In 
Latin, videre means to see, but it also means to per- 
ceive and to know. It is the same word precisely 
as the Ang-Saxon witan, our weet, which means to 
know. The same word exists in English to-day, 
but it is almost obsolete; it is seldom used and is 
quite limited in its application, We have to wit, 
chiefly in legal documents, and wot is occasionally 
found in poetry. But we have in common use wit, 
wise and witness, which are really the same words 
as Lat. videre and Ang.-Sax. witan. The Germans 
have this witan, slightly varied, as wissen and ge- 
wiss, in very common use, the meaning being to 
know and to be sure. The Greek know is gno, with 
very little variation from our word. There is 
also the Greek oida, to know, same as Lat. video, to 
see. The Latins have sentire, to feel, our word sense, 
sentiment and sensible; but the Latin word means 
also to perceive or see. 

We can form some idea of what thinking is, 
and what forms the word may assume, by noticing 
how many different words mean to think, in Latin. 
Thus, cogitare, to think, study; intelligere, to know, 
to see, to think; meditate, to think, meditate; recor- 
dari, to think, remember; putare, to suppose, be- 
lieve ; arbitrari, to judge, to think ; opinari, to have 



TO SEE, TO KNOW 



137 



an opinion ; judicare, to think, judge, credere to think, 
believe. 

We should never lose sight of this one lead- 
ing thought, that all thinking is feeling, and all 
seeing or perceiving is also pure feeling. When 
we state what we think, what we see, it is merely 
stating what and how we feel. We never get be- 
yond our opinions, and these are uniformly mat- 
ters of pure feeling, and nothing beyond that. 
Even what we know is merely what seems to us 
and what indicates how we feel. 

Our pains and sorrows, as well as our pleas- 
ures and enjoyments, are wholly matters of 
thought and opinion. If we think we are happy, 
we certainly are happy; and if it should happen 
that we were in a state where there is no thought, 
no feeling, as when certain kinds of gas or vapor 
are inhaled, we should neither be happy nor other- 
wise. If we could in some way forget or overlook 
ourselves, for a time, we should have no suffer- 
ings — and likewise, during the interval, no en- 
joyments. Anaesthetics make us forget ourselves 
and certain medicines, and certain foods and 
drinks, have the effect, to a greater or less extent, 
of changing a person's whole nature for a certain 
time. A wide field is open here for experiment 
and exploration. We only suffer when we come 
to think of ourselves, and we ourselves are wholly 
responsible for what we are and how we feel. Our 
sorrows are wholly our own; they never make 
other people sorrowful, certainly not to any great 
extent. What we lose is nobody's loss but our 
own. Why should the loss trouble others? It 



138 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



is only what they lose — or what they think they 
lose — that gives them pain. It often happens 
that what gives us sorrow causes happiness to 
others. There is a total want of harmony be- 
tween any one man or woman and the rest of 
mankind. Is it not a well known fact that we 
have a secret feeling of satisfaction when we learn 
of the misfortune of even our friends — not be- 
cause we delight to see them suffer, but to think 
how much more fortunate we are than they! 

Why should we worry over the sorrows of 
other people? Our worrying will not be of any 
assistance to one who is suffering from the gout 
or the tooth-ache. Not in the slightest degree 
will our sympathies serve to alleviate the suffer- 
ings of our friends. On the contrary, our sympa- 
thy helps to nurse, and tends to magnify, the 
sorrows of others. The child begins to cry, after 
it has fallen, just as soon as we stop to condole 
with it over its misfortune. We should all take 
the world as we find it and meet death, disaster 
and distress without whimpering. These are all 
necessary evils and parts of the same play. If 
we consider beforehand where we are placed and 
remember the system that we are laboring under, 
we shall take the bitter with the sweet and never 
murmur. It is the bitter that gives sweetness its 
pleasant flavor. Sufferings do not worry sav- 
ages as they do the civilized. What is a picture 
without shadows? It is merely a blank leaf. 
There are no pictures — no true pictures — that 
have no shadows; and there are none where the 
page is entirely covered with shadows. The mo- 



OUR WANTS 



139 



notony of perpetual sunshine would be intolerable. 
It is contrast that brings out color. It is contrast and 
shading that develops melody in music. There is 
harmony in discord; or rather, harmony arises 
from discord. Without discord, without contrast, 
music itself would be impossible. 

If I am correct in the position here taken, that 
our thoughts govern our whole course of life, and 
determine our every action, how important it is 
that we should uniformly have worthy thoughts, 
useful thoughts, correct thoughts! We are gov- 
erned wholly by our ideas, beyond doubt, and 
an idea that is false has just as much influence 
upon our conduct and career as one that is well 
founded. Schopenhauer is right when he inti- 
mates that there are no harmless errors of belief. 
Errors of belief are our most dangerous posses- 
sions. They are not violent, like dynamite; they 
are more in the nature of an insidious disease, 
which consumes continually and finally destroys. 
Surely no intelligent man could for a moment 
doubt that errors of belief are for us serious mis- 
takes in life, and no one is responsible for them 
but ourselves. 



OUR DAILY WANTS 

In this connection we will take up the subject 
of our wants. Our main source of trouble in this 
world lies in our wants, and if we had no wants., 
we should hardly have any troubles. Even our 



140 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

riches are accumulated chiefly to supply our 
wants, but if we had no wants we should need no 
riches, for they could do us no good. And it 
should be observed that the lessening of our wants 
is the same as adding to our wealth. If we had 
no wants, what good would riches do? We could 
easily reduce the number of our wants, for on 
sober reflection we shall find that there are a great 
many things which we think we want but do not 
want at all. Most of our wants arise from the fact 
that others have the same wants and are able to 
supply them. But what natural or necessary con- 
nection is there between our wants and what other 
people want ? As a matter of fact, we want things 
not for what they are but for what we are, and for 
what we imagine they are. It all depends upon 
how we think and how we feel. Some men, being 
misers, love gold; others more ambitious love 
fame, and really believe they could not dispense 
with it. For others an auto is the height of their 
ambition, while others again crave for nothing so 
much as cigarettes or whiskey. Force of habit 
and association has very much to do with our 
wants and desires. 

All that civilization has done for the world 
thus far is to multiply its wants. If we had no 
civilization, we should have no wealth, and with- 
out wealth, most of our wants would speedily dis- 
appear. If we consider the necessities of our case, 
we shall find that our real wants are naturally 
few. A very little will suffice for a sensible, self- 
restraining man. If we take time to consider, we 
shall soon notice that most of our labor is expend- 



OUR WANTS 



141 



ed in meeting wants that are purely imaginary 
and are to be found only in the minds of men. This 
is all a waste of exertion, a sacrifice on our part 
that is quite unnecessary. Men imagine that they 
want society, want cards, want praise, want honor, 
want riches, and hundreds of other things which 
they will find that they do not want, when they 
come to view things in a fair and sensible light. 

A man is poor who has many wants that can- 
not be supplied ; and his having money or land, or 
wealth in any form, which he is not able to make 
use of, does not help his case in the least. Wealth 
that cannot be used in meeting wants cannot 
properly be called wealth in any sense. What can- 
not be put to some use, is always worthless. 

Like everything else, wants are good things as 
well as bad things — good in one case and bad in 
another. If we had no wants, we should have no 
pleasures, for pleasures come from satisfying 
wants. But the weakness of human nature is such 
that the satisfying of one want leads immediately 
to the birth of a new want, or possibly to two new 
wants. Contentment never seems to have been 
intended for the human family. Resistance is not 
pleasant, but it develops strength. In all countries 
where nature does most for man, it will be found 
that he does least for himself. 



142 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



ILLUSIONS AND DELUSIONS 

Illusions have been referred to incidentally, 
on former pages, but the subject is one of sufficient 
importance to justify further consideration. If, 
in continuing this subject, some things are repeat- 
ed that have already been stated, they will cer- 
tainly not be without some service. The subject 
that we have in hand in this work is one that, for 
the uninitiated, is burdened with many difficulties, 
and hence arises the propriety, if not the neces- 
sity, of presenting the same statements at differ- 
ent times and under different aspects, so that those 
who wish to learn may become familiar with ideas 
that at first appear strange, and that finally they 
may be inclined to accept as true what formerly 
they deemed preposterous. 

Why should men have so much confidence in 
their own impressions and belief, when their whole 
experience in life warns them to proceed cautious- 
ly in their progress, as men uniformly do in a 
state of nature ! Is it not a fact that we are being 
constantly deceived in what we see and hear? 
Does not our whole experience lead us to distrust 
ourself and to question our thoughts, our im- 
pressions, and especially the evidence of our 
senses, in all the observations that we have occa- 
sion to make? The business of nature, it would 
seem, is not to reveal the truth but to conceal it. 
Phenomena mislead us quite generally, in some, 



ILLUSIONS 



143 



if not in many, particulars. It often happens that 
we cannot distinguish water from sky, or clouds 
from mountains, when seen in the distance. We 
have nothing but impressions in regard to the 
character and make-up of even our most intimate 
acquaintances, and every day develops some new 
feature that we had not suspected before. What 
is there in all our experience, from childhood up, 
that would serve to give us confidence in our con- 
victions, our opinions, our conclusions? 

We are too much inclined to forgetfulness 
and inattention, when it comes to certain facts 
that we really ought to remember. For instance, 
we are constantly imagining that things have an 
expression or character of their own, when it is 
well known that nothing, no object, no creature, 
has a character or expression that can be called 
its own with any sort of propriety. Creatures 
and objects are what they are because of their 
surroundings and because of the influences to 
which they have been subjected from the begin- 
ning of their existence down to the present mo- 
ment. But for men this is only part of the story. 
For men objects are simply what they think they 
are. If things around us, or those with which we 
come in daily contact, have certain qualities or 
characteristics, it is just such qualities or at- 
tributes as we ourselves have assigned to them. 
If things are ugly, it is only because we believe or 
consider them ugly; and things are considered 
handsome or agreeable for a similar reason. Sav- 
ages regard certain developments of the person 
as features of beauty, while we would look upon 



144 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



them as a gross deformity. Everything depends 
upon our thoughts. If a man have a carbuncle, 
or a dozen of them, and we do not happen to know 
it or notice it, he might as well have something 
else, or nothing at all, so far as we are concerned. 

We are continually making categories and 
putting things in classes. We say this is a white 
man, and we put him in that class, though in real- 
ity he may be as black as a negro. The category 
or class that a man finds himself in settles the 
whole business; and as already intimated, this 
rank or classification is wholly and unquestionably 
the work of men. It is not God 's work ; ten thou- 
sand things that are credited or debited to this 
Being belong really in man's account. It is well 
understood by intelligent men generally that we 
not only give to God his character, but we actual- 
ly make Him as we want Him. But if it is true 
that we make our own gods and devils and demons 
to suit our fancy, why is it not equally true that 
we make all the beings whose images are formed 
in our minds? 

It should be constantly kept in remembrance 
that what we have in our mind is merely our view 
of things, while others have their views also. 
These different views of things never do and never 
can agree, and it is foolish ever to undertake to 
make them agree. Every nation has its own view 
of science, and the view of one nation is never like 
the view of another nation. The difference is 
always a question of more or less. In no country 
does a teacher, or a doctor, or a philosopher, hold 
the same rank or have the same office to perform 



ILLUSIONS 



145 



as he does in other countries. So words in any 
country have a different meaning in the towns 
from what they have in the cities, and in the 
courts from what they have among the common 
people. As already stated in another place, words 
have no other meaning than that which is as- 
signed to them, and the same is true of attributes 
and qualities. Our whole concern about things is 
what we think they are, and what we should think 
they are. What other people think they are, is a 
matter that does not for one moment concern us. 

It should be constantly borne in mind, that 
everything that is done by men or things, as well 
as their whole character, has to be interpreted, 
assimilated, adapted to our mind and translated 
into our dialect, before it can have, for us, any real 
place, force or value. For ourselves — and that 
means the whole thinking, sentient world- — the 
question is not what things are, but what we think 
they are. Thus far, mankind have not been able 
to proceed a step farther than they are carried 
by their own thoughts. Truth has no value, in 
fact it is not living truth for us, until we accept 
it and give it a place in our curriculum. Even 
gold undiscovered and unappropriated is as good 
as no gold at all, but not any better. 

It is all in the way we view things — rather 
than in what they are. It is the appearance of 
things, and not the reality, that impresses us. 
We call this thing good and that thing bad — but 
that signifies nothing, except that so we happen 
to feel. If an animal looks like an elephant, it 
might as well be an elephant, so far as the obser- 



146 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

ver is concerned. If a man is considered a villain, 
there is no help for him. He might just as well be 
a villain. Where is the difference, in practice? 
Whether a man is or is not a villain, is a matter 
wholly for men to decide. God is not even appealed 
to. In practice, honesty is a mere matter of repu- 
tation. To be reputed honest, answers every pur- 
pose. That is what everybody finds. A villain in 
the eyes of some men is a hero in the eyes of others, 
and those who are inclined to reject this proposi- 
tion are clearly laboring under a delusion. They 
do not understand the facts of the case. 

It is a delusion to imagine that anything is 
lasting. All things are for this moment alone. 
How can we with any feelings of assurance predi- 
cate anything of any object? Everything con- 
stantly changes. It is here to-day and is gone to- 
morrow. Whatever it may have been in the past, 
it is something else at present. A thing must be 
fixed, and remain fixed and unchangeable to have 
any character. We cannot really see things when 
they are in motion. A bullet flies directly before 
our eyes, and yet we fail to perceive it. A picture 
of things is only for a day, a moment ; it is always 
simply a snap-shot. What can a picture show, 
any picture, the best in the world, of the character 
and history of things! Not only things but our 
opinions of things, are for the present moment only. 
The picture of a battlefield is for one small sec- 
tion, and for one moment of time. The whole is 
presented as if struck with sudden petrifaction. 

And what is an illusion! Merely a mistake 
in impression, in conviction, in feeling, in inf orma- 



ILLUSIONS 



147 



tion perhaps. There is nothing strange or unnat- 
ural about an illusion. It proves nothing. A 
man is not mad or insane because he suffers from 
an illusion; or if he is so, all men are mad or in- 
sane, for certainly all men have illusions, and they 
have them at all times in some form. All our im- 
pressions and convictions may be denominated 
illusions. Our ideas of value are all illusions; 
things, it is well known, are worth more or less 
merely according as we happen to think. It is a 
deception for us to imagine that some men are 
better or worse than others. Our ideas of crime 
and our belief in the necessity or propriety of pun- 
ishments are unquestionably deceptions of a seri- 
ous character. It is a hallucination to believe 
that God made this world, or even that such a be- 
ing as God exists in the first place. It is man, in 
practice, who made the world, or who at least pic- 
tures it as we find it. It is men who make God, 
or who picture him as we find him commonly rep- 
resented. Everything with which we have any- 
thing to do in this world is clearly the work of 
men. It is a delusion to believe, as many men do, 
that when the sun shines for them it shines for all 
the world beside; and that as they see things, so 
these must appear to people in distant lands. It is 
a delusion to believe that when we are ill every- 
body else is ill, and that as we feel, so other people 
must feel, of every age and every condition in life. 

We are subject to illusions constantly, and 
they come upon us at all times and from every di- 
rection. Things, especially at a distance, always 



148 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

appear larger or smaller than they are. At best 
we have nothing to guide us but estimates of our 
own, in all matters of size, distance, form, color, 
substance, quantity, quality, velocity, number, and 
indeed in practically all cases. It is hard ascer- 
taining the real truth in any instance. We can- 
not rely with safety upon our own senses, and 
when we rely upon the senses of other people, the 
case is found to be still more doubtful. We are, 
as the Bible says, nothing but a worm, and we do 
nothing but crawl most of the time. 

Men are building cob-houses as a regular 
business, and it is cob-houses that they are taking 
down. Speaking properly, we are busy with phan- 
toms all the day long. Phantoms afford us our 
daily amusement. It is phantoms exclusively 
while we sleep, and it is phantoms likewise when 
we are awake. Our whole life may be called an 
illusion. We never see things; we see only the 
pictures of things, and these are always fanciful 
sketches colored more or less highly. Even a 
landscape is a picture that is constantly varying, 
and it never appears twice alike at different hours 
of the day. It has, as artists know, a morning 
view, a view at midday and a view in the evening 
— and these are all very much unlike. To the eyes 
of the old Greeks and Egyptians, the landscape 
appeared very differently from what it does to our 
eyes ; and so it appears very differently in the pic- 
tures which they left to posterity. The landscape 
pictures of the ancients are entirely different pro- 
ductions from ours of the present day. In fact, 



MISTAKES OF THE WISE 



149 



the ancients knew nothing of perspective, and they 
had no such conception of the landscape as we 
have. 



MISTAKES OF THE WISE 

How can we understand things, or how can 
we represent them, when they have no indepen- 
dence of their own? They are really found only 
in the conceptions of men; they have no limits or 
location, no form, no activity, no power, no char- 
acter of their own, and they are never found 
twice alike at any two places or at any two points 
of time. These conditions apply to space and to 
time, and indeed to all things, which are at last 
only conceptions or developments of the brain of 
man. Especially do they apply to time. When it 
is 9 o'clock at any one place, it is not 9 o'clock at 
any other point on the globe either east or west ; 
and when it is the summer season in one place, it 
is not necessarily the summer time at any other 
place. Seasons and temperature depend not alone 
upon latitude but upon the altitude of places. 
Temperature also depends upon the contiguity 
of large bodies of water, as well as upon other in- 
fluences that need not be mentioned here. 

What fair conception can man have of any 
existence that has no limits, no beginning and no 
end? This is true of time and space, and of 
things that exist only in our thoughts and reflec- 
tions. The seasons have no fixed or determinate 



150 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



point of beginning. In America spring begins 
with March, in England it begins in February. At 
what honr does our day begin? When or where 
does the earth start on its daily revolution? 
Nobody knows, and so we are left to suit ourselves 
on that matter, and thus it is with all questions of 
the kind. There is nothing fixed or constant about 
a day or about any other period of time. It is 
merely a matter of choice and opinion in all cases, 
and as everybody knows, opinions are remarkably 
variable. 

It is well known that a person traveling east 
constantly gains time, as people express it, and 
traveling west a person constantly loses time., 
His watch will be 4 minutes slow or fast for every 
degree, or 70 miles, traveled either way. Suppose 
two men start from the same point to go round the 
world, one going east and the other west, each 
keeping his own record of time, day by day. The 
one going east will find when he returns that he 
has gained a day. For the people who remained 
in the place, we will say, it is Tuesday. For the 
one returning from the east it would be Wednes- 
day, while for the one returning from the west, it 
would be Monday, he having lost one day. Here 
is a difference of two whole days, and we are re- 
minded of the variableness and uncertainty of 
time. Time is, like religion and many other 
things, a mere development of man's brain. It 
would seem that our wise men ought to rectify 
their notions on this subject. 

In astronomy, as in science generally, the cus- 
tom is to start with an assumption and then to 



MISTAKES OP THE WISE 



151 



search for evidence to justify the scientist in the 
position he has taken. And it must be observed 
that inquirers are very slow to confess their error 
when they find themselves mistaken in their the- 
ory, and they wander about aimlessly for a long 
time before they will take such a humiliating step 
as to confess their mistake. Unfortunately astron- 
omers are usually in the wrong, not because 
they know so much less than other wise men, but 
because they are accustomed to venture into un- 
usually deep water. It is found to be practically 
impossible to make any assertion in their depart- 
ment which on careful investigation is found to be 
strictly true. Astronomers are fond of laying 
down laws for nature, and then expecting nature 
to follow them. But as a rule it is found that na- 
ture has no laws, certainly none that it uniformly 
observes. It may proceed in a certain manner for 
a little distance, but it is liable to switch off in an- 
other direction, and do something entirely unex- 
pected, at almost any moment. Nature is never 
uniform or regular in any of its operations. 
Every movement that it makes is independent of 
every other movement, and it never has any refer- 
ence or relation to any predecessor. 

It was for a long time assumed, and generally 
it is still asserted, that all the planets are globes, 
all their paths are circles, and their motions are 
uniform. But the fact is well known that none of 
the planets are properly spheres, none of their 
orbits are circles, or even ellipses, and in no case 
are their motions regular or uniform. It is also a 
fact that they never return to the point where they 



152 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

started, and hence they never make complete rev- 
olutions. An approximation to the truth is never 
the truth itself; in fact an approximation is no 
truth at all. A revolution that is not complete 
is no revolution. A number that is less than 
twenty-five certainly is not, and never can be, 
twenty-five; and a body that lacks complete 
sphericity is not a globe in any sense. The only 
globes really are perfect globes, and it is folly 
to pretend otherwise for one moment. The only 
truth at all times is the exact truth; and it is a 
great misfortune that such a thing is nowhere to be 
found. Science will never progress very rapidly 
when the most important claims are founded on 
fallacies, even if the falsity is, as often happens, 
subsequently admitted. 

Very many of the statements in astronomy 
are, like those found in metaphysics and mathe- 
matics, most recklessly and unaccountably made. 
We read in astronomical treatises of the planets 
carrying their moons with them in their travels 
around the sun; also of the earth, and other bodies, 
turning daily on its own axis, or around its axis. 
It is possible that the earth goes round the sun 
once a year, but can it have a daily motion be- 
sides! Can any body have two motions; can it 
travel in two directions, or make two revolutions, 
at the same time ? Can an athlete turn a back- 
ward and a forward somersault all at once? It is 
evident enough that while the earth is turning 
round its axis, as supposed, it is not also turning 
around the sun. While a body is going in one di- 
rection, it cannot be going in some other direction 



RELATIONS OF THINGS 



153 



at the same time. In the case of the moon, it is 
conceded, even by astronomers, that while this 
body is pursuing its usual monthly course and sim- 
ply advancing steadily, it is not also rotating 
about the earth. And what is conceded to be 
true of the moon must also be true in similar cases 
of other parts of the heavens. To go around a 
body implies that it must be stationary. The 
earth is not stationary, and so the moon cannot re- 
volve around it. It simply does not. To go 
around implies a complete circle. 



THE RELATIONS OF THINGS 



In whatever direction we turn our attention, 
we are certain to find that it is impossible to con- 
nect events or trace their relation. Really, in the 
nature of things, there is no relation, outside of the 
minds of thinking men. All acts are independent 
of all other acts. Properly speaking, there is no 
such thing as object or motive for an action. It is 
possible that the Devil may have a motive, and 
probably statesmen, diplomatists, and politicians 
also have motives, but we think of few exceptions 
beyond these. Under the system of philosophy 
that prevails among reflecting men to-day, it is 
permissible to speak of the causes of action, but 
when motives are under consideration, we have in 
mind the movements of rational men. There is in- 
deed little that is done by men on reflection, or 



154 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



from what might be called a rational motive. As 
a matter of fact, men act from impulse or induce- 
ment, or perhaps from habit or fear — always from 
some influence that affects them or some incident 
that impels them at the time of the action. A man 
may have a motive, he may consider himself ag- 
grieved or injured for months or years, and yet 
take no step to avenge himself or return the injury. 
So it is not the motive alone that impels a man to 
action at last. It is really something of recent 
date which incites to action, but which could not 
properly be called the motive in the case. 

What we wish chiefly to impress upon the 
reader's mind is the undoubted truth that we can- 
not connect one act with another act, and in no 
sense could they be said to have any relation. 
Acts and movements always stand out free and in- 
dependent of each other, as trees do, and as houses 
and individuals do generally. When we speak of 
one act being the motive or cause of another, we 
are talking about something that may be passing 
in our mind, but which does not exist in nature in 
any form. It will be remembered that motive 
never appears in a picture or painting, or in a piece 
of sculpture. Neither the chisel nor pencil will 
help us in presenting things that have no actual 
existence. 

Every attempt to connect two separate events, 
or two actions, will be sure to result in failure. 
How shall we be able to say what an act means, or 
what the actor or operator had in view? Thus, 
we see a man hand over to another a sum of money. 
What name shall we give to the movement? It 



RELATIONS OF THINGS 



155 



may be a payment, it may be a gift, it may be 
merely throwing a sum of money away. The act 
in itself clearly has no meaning, no motive, though 
we may call it what we choose. Again, we see a 
man ride or walk by. How shall we know from 
his action alone what it means? It may be that 
the man is taking exercise, or he may be going for 
the doctor, or perhaps he is leaving the country. 
How shall we ever know the meaning of what we 
see, by mere perception, when really what we see 
has of itself no meaning? We see a house. What 
does that mean ? It may be a home, a castle or a 
prison. How shall we determine which it is 
merely from what we see! In all such cases we 
properly do not see things. We merely see an 
object, a mass, a certain amount of material — 
nothing more. Its true character cannot be 
ascertained from perception alone. Character is 
something that can never be learned from mere 
observation. We might live with people a dozen 
years, or even a century, and still we should not 
know them as they are. People do not fully know 
themselves, and often they are not aware of their 
capabilities. How should others know them! 
Moreover, it should be borne in mind that charac- 
ter is never a -fixed quantity. It varies from day to 
day and it is made as people go along. So a build- 
ing that is a palace to-day may be a prison or a 
hotel to-morrow. It is not the material that gives 
objects their character. It depends more upon 
how they are used, or what for. It often happens 
that a man who is a private in the ranks at one 
time is the commander of an army later on. Seen 



156 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

in the street without his uniform, how shall we de- 
cide in which capacity he appears! Clearly 
enough there are many points on which mere per- 
ception does not enlighten us. Indeed, the knowl- 
edge that we get from that source is at all times 
quite limited and uncertain. 

We must repeat the old question, do we ever 
see things as they are? How could we, when no- 
body in the world pretends to know just how or 
what anything is? The very best that any man 
can do in such cases is to give his opinion. A pic- 
ture is simply an opinion, a single view taken from 
a certain point at a certain time. A second pic- 
ture taken by the same operator from the same 
standpoint would differ from the first, for we 
know that no two pictures are ever alike. Do pic- 
tures show things as they really are? To seem 
is everything; what things actually are, matters 
little. Plated ware serves as well as better goods, 
so long as its true character is not known. 

In this connection I wish to present in a 
stronger light than before an idea that I have 
touched upon many times in the course of this 
work, and that is the matter of results and their 
causes. There are no real results and no real 
causes, though we are compelled to continue the 
use of such delusive terms by the present state of 
what goes by the name of science. Most assuredly 
one thing is never the cause or result of another 
thing, another factor. If we have results at all, 
they are in all cases the product of a great number 
of causes, all operating together at one and the 
same time. For instance, the reputation that a 



RELATIONS OF THINGS 



157 



man bears is determined as much by what his 
neighbors happen to hear or think of him as by 
what he himself actually performs. And so when 
we see an object presented in a certain form or 
color, the picture or impression that is formed in 
our mind is in no case a transcript or copy of the 
object itself. This picture or impression depends 
upon many things outside of the object in ques- 
tion — on the state of the atmosphere as a medium 
through which things are seen, upon the distance 
of the object, and upon the amount of light dif- 
fused at the time that the observation is taken. 
It will be found, moreover, that the picture will 
vary as the education, intelligence and ability of 
the observers vary. There is no proof or signifi- 
cance simply in a resemblance between things. 
Two trees resemble each other, but there is no con- 
nection or relation between them. A likeness 
has no connection with the object represented. 

Again, causes could never be transformed 
into effects; things never mingle, never change, 
never really disappear. Causes always remain 
what they were. Thus, if we mix two colors, blue 
and yellow, we get green, but simply because green 
is, in this case at least, merely blue and yellow in 
combination. If we examine the mixture with a 
microscope, we shall find that we have merely 
what we had to begin with, blue and yellow. We 
cannot destroy identity by mixing. Mixture, as 
a process, is wholly imaginary, and so is the result 
produced. There is actually no change in the ele- 
ments. So, how could we get anything new from 
the combination? 



158 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



LIGHT AND COLOR 

We will dwell briefly on the nature and effects 
of light and color. What we learn from that 
source will enable us to get a clearer insight into 
the nature of other objects that affect our senses. 
It will usually be found that the errors and delu- 
sions that we labor under in our conceptions of 
light and color are of the same character as the 
errors that mislead us in other sections of the ex- 
ternal world. 

It is a fact that is coming to be well under- 
stood that light and colors are not things standing 
out alone in space or floating in the air. They are 
merely things thought of or conceived, things im- 
pressed upon the brain of man, and without the 
help of some form of photography like this they 
would never be known to exist. Colors are merely 
developments of light, and they differ from each 
other only in the degree of illumination which they 
represent. Black represents darkness or no light ; 
red has more light than black, yellow more still, 
and white has most of all. We may add that there 
is no doubt that no such thing exists as simple 
light or simple color; all color, like notes in music, 
is a compound arising from the co-existence or 
combination of other colors. 

It is asserted by some writers that color lies 
wholly in the eye of the observer, but this is hardly 
a correct view of the case. We may have eyes and 



LIGHT AND COLOR 



159 



yet perceive no color; to get the sensation of color, 
we mnst have not only the eye and light, but also 
the object in which the color is exhibited. How- 
ever, it is quite true that color is not a possession 
that belongs to objects as individuals. It is for 
all practical purposes borrowed livery, since color 
comes chiefly, if not wholly, from the reflection of 
surrounding objects. 

The surface of a lake on a summer day has 
no permanent or characteristic color of its own. 
It changes constantly as the light of the sun be- 
comes brighter or more dimmed; and also as the 
clouds move and the winds change their direction. 
Every object that stands in the field of light is 
constantly casting shadows, and thus it exerts a 
permanent influence upon the colors of all objects 
in its vicinity. In a certain sense, all color is a 
result of surrounding influence, and this color 
changes at all times as the influence varies. The 
red paper on the walls of an apartment throws a 
red reflection upon every object in the room. A 
cloud may change its hues and shades in a few mo- 
ments, as a result of shifting shadows or some new 
reflection. A cloud is at the same time a reflector 
and an opaque body that casts a shadow whenever 
it enters the sun's light. The color of all objects 
that are exposed to sunlight is very materially 
affected by the shadows that fall upon them. 

So far from color being a permanent feature 
of objects, they are constantly changing their hues 
without any perceptible change of character. 
Flowers change their tints from day to day; water 
in a cup is white, while in the river or lake it ap- 



160 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

pears blue or green. Iron when cold is dark and 
lusterless; when melted, it varies in color from 
deep red to glowing whiteness. The variableness 
of color, arising from the affect of external influ- 
ences or conditions, affords a striking illustration 
of the variableness that we notice in the character 
and appearance of all things. 

That the color of objects as seen by an obser- 
ver depends more upon the structure of the eye 
than is commonly supposed, will be found evident 
enough by all who give the matter serious atten- 
tion. To those who are blind, of course no color at 
all appears. Besides, many people are color-blind. 
They cannot distinguish green or black from blue. 
To their eyes, these colors appear quite alike. 
Some people have so little appreciation of color 
that they cannot name what they see, as others 
again cannot distinguish one tune from another 
or give it a name. They can tell what is white and 
what is black, #nd but little beyond that. It is a 
curious fact only lately noticed that the ancients 
were indifferent at least to some colors. Green, it 
is said, is not mentioned in the early writings of 
the Hindoos. Only a portion of the primary colors 
are mentioned in Homer. It is evident enough 
that objects do not appear red or green, or any 
other color, really because they are such, but be- 
cause of the condition of the eyes of the observer 
himself. To different people things appear differ- 
ent because their eyes are different. It is so with 
taste and other senses. 

What is particularly noticeable is the effect 
which one color has upon another color when two 



LIGHT AND COLOR 



161 



of them are presented to the eye at the same mo- 
ment. It sometimes intensifies the other color, 
and sometimes it gives it a different hue entirely. 
This is the effect of contrast or comparison and 
accords with a law we see exemplified in all the 
realms of nature. It is the same result as we ob- 
tain when we combine two powders of different 
hues and get a new color. In music this phenom- 
enon is much in evidence. The sound of one 
string in connection with that of another string 
gives us an effect that is at the same time new and 
striking. Again, the sound of a violin with a 
strong tone has a great effect upon a soft-toned 
instrument played at the same time. It often 
changes, for the time being, the character of the 
milder instrument completely, and what is notice- 
able is that this effect upon the ear of the player 
is one that lasts for quite an appreciable time. 
We have the same experience in tasting liquors, or 
dishes at the table, either one after the other or 
taken in connection. Indeed, the ear is never free 
from a variety of sounds, or the tongue from a 
variety of tastes. It is impossible in this world 
to get any impression that is independent of all 
extraneous influences. 

It is demonstrated clearly enough every day 
that things have no character of their own, or they 
have none that cannot be negatived or modified by 
the influence of things with which they are asso- 
ciated. Thus, water, the same water, is found to 
be either hot or cold when tested with other water. 
If we put our hand into a dish of water, the latter 
will be pronounced either hot or cold according to 



162 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

the temperature of water into which we may have 
plunged our hand a moment before. All that any 
one means by saying water is cold is that it is not 
so warm or so hot as some other water with which 
he happened to make his comparison. This is by 
no means an exceptional experience. It is in har- 
mony with a law that is known to be universal. 
Can we say that things are what they seem? So 
far as the comparison goes, they certainly are. 
But it must not be forgotten that in every case the 
truth arises solely from the comparison of one 
thing with another. Things may be relatively so 
and positively not so. To a person having a fever, 
the temperature of a room seems high; while an- 
other, with a different condition of body, experi- 
ences a sensation of coldness. 

Few people realize how very much of all that 
mankind think and believe and know is the result 
of teaching in some form. All of our conceptions 
and thoughts are largely the result of instruction, 
and usually our methods of doing things can be 
traced to the same influence. A few ideas may be 
inherited, but the number is extremely limited. 
The infant has to be taught to see and hear prop- 
erly, as it has to be taught to walk and to speak 
correctly. In its earliest stages it does not see 
objects at all, and it is a long time after birth be- 
fore the child sees the world as it is seen by adults. 
Colors are not appreciated till many months have 
elapsed. People who have been blind during the 
early portion of their life, but who finally 
have been blessed with sight, have an interesting 
experience. They have no idea of the distances of 



LIGHT AND COLOR 



163 



objects, nor do they see raised forms. To them 
everything appears flat and monotonous. In fact, 
in looking ont of a window, they see nothing but a 
picture. So it is in all art; people have to learn 
before they know. The crude work and childish 
forms presented by art in its earliest stages remind 
us of a people slowly emerging from blindness and 
ignorance. 

It must not be forgotten that most of the 
errors in seeing arise from mistakes of judgment, 
or mistakes made in conclusions drawn. Thus 
we are too apt to judge of a town by the railroad 
station and its surroundings, though it may be, 
and often is, the backyard and the poorest part of 
the place. So we are apt to jump at conclusions 
in regard to the wealth or progress of a state from 
the section that we happen to see when we are 
riding along on the cars; and yet we know that 
this is no evidence at all as to the real facts in the 
case. It is never fair, it is never excusable, to 
judge of what we have not seen by what we have 
seen — though people are constantly making that 
absurd mistake. 

It may not be amiss to remind the reader 
again that to see things, they must be in a state of 
rest, for a moment at least. A streak of lightning 
is an illusion; it is merely a fiery ball moving so 
rapidly as to give the appearance of a continuous 
line. A fire brand whirled rapidly around gives 
the impression of a fiery circle. All these facts 
show clearly that we do not see things as they 
are. We merely get impressions, which are some- 
times correct and sometimes not. Circumstances 



164 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

may change any impression, as it may alter any 
picture. The proposition seems so plain that it 
is a waste of time to discuss the question — and yet 
the great mass of men, even the most intelligent, 
really think there can be no doubt about what 
they perceive. They believe in the truth of what 
they see, when they have no means of knowing 
what the truth is. Force of habit, with education 
and association, has much to do with the conclu- 
sions that are formed by men. 



ERRORS IN ESTIMATES 



It is time that people should revise their 
estimates of truth; it evidently is not what they 
have all along assumed it to be. Why should we 
expect to find truth in history, or truth in the ordi- 
nary transactions of business men, when it is well 
known that lies are in good demand and they usu- 
ally stand at a premium. It should be remem- 
bered that only a comparatively few people have 
a personal interest in telling the truth or in hear- 
ing it told. One man says one thing and another 
says something quite different. Which one shall 
we believe? Usually the story of one is as credi- 
ble as the story of another. When we come to 
examine the matter carefully and considerately, 
we shall find that lies are the chief stock in trade, 
so far as concerns the general business of life. 
Nobody wants to be rated at what he is actually 



ERRORS IN ESTIMATES 



165 



worth. Everybody wants to be rated at rather 
more than he is worth — except when it comes to a 
question of taxes. So far from people wanting 
the truth told, it is uniformly the truth that, up 
to the last moment, they persistently endeavor to 
conceal. A great many people — and very good 
people, too — do not want even their ages known. 
They do not know what might happen in the 
family, and so they feel that it would be just as 
well if their neighbors did not happen to know 
every little point in their family history. When 
it comes to the matter of dress, every man and 
woman appears in disguise. Dress makes of the 
wearer a new creature. Very few people appear 
to advantage in undress. Besides, their nearest 
neighbors would hardly recognize them, if they 
appeared wholly without apparel. 

Everywhere, it will be observed, men are 
given credit which they do not deserve. Instead 
of being commended or rewarded for what they 
have done, they are often rewarded for something 
that some one else has done. People love to talk 
about justice and fairness, and roll the words in 
their mouth like sugar candy, but usually it is 
very little concern that they have as to how far 
justice and fairness prevails among their fellow 
men. Their interests, their appetites and their 
feelings will ordinarily be found to be in some 
other direction. How others fare is a question 
that troubles very few people. The question that 
does concern them is rather how they themselves 
shall fare. If everything goes well with them 
and they are accumulating money or bonds, why 



166 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



should they worry over the injustice which hap- 
pens to fall to the lot of others! People do not 
stop to inquire if it is the right man that is pun- 
ished, or the right man that is buried. They seem 
to be satisfied, if they are assured finally that 
somebody has been punished or somebody buried. 
People are generally possessed of the absurd con- 
viction that the affairs of the world run smoother, 
for a time at least, after somebody, possibly some 
innocent person, has been punished. And as to 
burying other folks, the more of these that are put 
under the ground, the more room and the greater 
are the opportunities, it would seem, for those 
who survive. However, in connection with the 
matter of punishments, a slow but steady change 
and improvement may be noticed in the senti- 
ments of the American people. It will be remem- 
bered that the author of this work has condemned 
our criminal laws and criminal punishments for 
many long years, and he condemns them still. These 
punishments are cruel, senseless, barbarous, unjust 
and entirely unnecessary. Besides, they are out- 
rageously expensive. 

And finally, how silly it is to go on boasting 
of what we have done and are doing, and talking 
volubly about the reliableness of history? How 
do we know, how shall we ever know, with all the 
loud acclaim, who are our truly great men? How 
shall we ascertain at last how much of all that is 
passed to the great man's credit really belongs in 
some other man 's account ? It should not be for- 
gotten that what any one man can achieve alone in 
an ordinary life time, no matter how able or how 



ERRORS IN ESTIMATES 



167 



active lie may be, is a very insignificant factor at 
most. And it must be remembered that great men 
never lead the people. They merely float in at 
high tide and find a landing place somewhere, just 
as opportunity offers. They are great only so far 
as they represent the people and do the people's 
bidding. They belong to a certain era and they 
would not be recognized as great men in some 
other era. If there is anywhere any natural pro- 
duction of earth, it is the great man. He pro- 
duces nothing himself ; he simply is produced. He 
is merely the instrument or medium of other men. 
No man can by any possibility make himself 
great ; he is only great so far as people call him so, 
and merely because they call him so. The peo- 
ple put him up, and the people can take him down 
again. Often a day or a night suffices for such a 
simple operation as this. As an element in gov- 
ernment the common people are quite as indispen- 
sable as the king himself. Neither could exist for 
a moment without the other. 

Napoleon was a great man, if there ever was 
one, and where did he land finally? He struck 
a rock at last in the southern Atlantic and quickly 
went down. He was not the only great man that 
suffered shipwreck. Greatness never helps a man 
when he needs help most. Napoleon was as great 
at Leipsic and Waterloo as he was at Austerlitz 
and Jena. Success is no evidence of greatness, 
neither does defeat prove any lack of merit. The 
greatest of men have failed in their undertakings, 
and the smallest of men are often successful. Is 
a man weak because he cannot lift a ton! Even 



168 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

God is not great enough to do things that are im- 
possible. Is a man a failure because the fates 
happen to be against him! We credit the great 
man with too much, and then we make it even at 
last by debiting him too much. Hyperbole is alto- 
gether too common in both history and biography. 

Do we wonder why the reputations of great 
men are so ephemeral, so uncertain? It is be- 
cause of the flimsiness of their pretensions. The 
world of to-day hardly knows what a great man 
is, and much less does it know who should be called 
great. He is usually considered to be an extraor- 
dinary personage, but really no such people ex- 
ist. At best every man when he comes to the final 
test, is found to be merely ordinary. Of course 
some men know more than others, but that is all. 
It often happens that great men are admired most 
where they are known least. In this business, as 
it is with lovers, fancy and imagination play a 
leading part. Plenty of people may be heard to 
cheer vociferously the names of Descartes and 
Kant who never read an original line of these 
great writers. All that the public knows of these 
men is what they have read casually in the works 
of other authors. Such is greatness — it lies wholly 
in what people say. 

We never know anything of the real private 
life of great men. That is a chapter that is never 
found in history. The little deeds are never no- 
ticed — the petty, trivial, and even contemptible 
things! And how many of this class of men are 
sane, and how many are not! The world will 
never know. Too many of them, we know, are 



ERRORS IN ESTIMATES 



169 



simply spoiled children. They never quite find 
their level. A few of them may be better than 
other men, but we are never able to ascertain just 
who they are to whom this remark may justly 
apply. 

To continue our inquiry into the merits and 
claims of the great men, we will take the violin as 
an illustration: A man has a good violin, which 
he plays uncommonly well. To which shall we 
assign the chief merit, the instrument or the play- 
er ? Eeally, to neither. The violin does its work ? 
and does it well; the artist does his work, and does 
it well. As between the. two, how can there be any 
superior claims under the head of excellence? 

Again, take the violin as an instrument with 
which to give proper expression to certain pieces 
of music. It is made of many parts, and they are 
all indispensable. If any one is absent, or weak in 
execution, the violin cannot give its best effects. 
There are the strings, four of them, and they must 
be properly attuned. Then there is the bow, hav- 
ing two principal parts, the hair and the wood or 
stick, which must be of good material and properly 
adjusted. There is also the bridge, small, but 
very important. And finally the sounding post, 
quite insignificant in appearance. Yet without 
this piece, properly placed, no violin is able to do 
its work satisfactorily. 

Which of these several parts of the violin has 
the highest claims for work well performed! Of 
course it is absurd to speak of merit or claims in 
any such connection. And just so it is with the 
claims of the great man. He is only part of the 



170 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

show at best; he is one of the performers, even 
though he be known as the "star." The show 
could not dispense with him, and he could not dis- 
pense with the show, at least not unless he left the 
business. 



PRAISE AND FAME 

Why should men want, why should anybody 
want, either praise or fame? They cannot be of 
any interest or concern to sensible men; they can 
afford them no actual attraction. They are mere 
baubles, and they should be so rated. They are 
not rewards for work well done, nor for achieve- 
ments honestly performed. People are praised 
not for their virtue or goodness, but because they 
happen to strike somebody's fancy, or some one 
imagines it is his interest to praise them. Praise 
proves nothing; curses prove nothing. Men, the 
best of men, are lauded to-day and condemned to- 
morrow, or at least discarded or neglected to-mor- 
row. Oscar Wilde is an example. He was perse- 
cuted, condemned, and finally imprisoned by his 
own people. As a matter of fact he died from in- 
juries received at the hands of his countrymen. 
His name for a time was rarely mentioned without 
producing a loathsome feeling, and at last he was 
practically forgotten. But lo! not so very long 
after his death, there was a remarkable change of 
feeling — in Germany, in France, and even in Eng- 
land and America — and Oscar Wilde, transfigured 



PRAISE AND FAME 



171 



as he was, appeared to the world again, this time 
as a genius of the highest type, and a great man! 
Whether he was, or is, really a good man, is not 
yet determined; but if a man happens to be a 
genius, his morality, or the want of it, becomes a 
trifling matter. 

The case of Nietzsche is also worthy of notice. 
Very few people know anything about him, and it 
is for that reason that he is generally believed to 
be a genius. In his case, as in the case of our God, 
if we knew more about him, we doubtless would 
not have so high an opinion of his merits. But 
it is not to be denied that Nietzsche said some re- 
markable things — as people often do when their 
mind is out of order — and therefore people are con- 
fident he must have been a remarkable man. It is 
a very difficult thing to form a correct estimate of 
the value of public opinion, especially when it 
comes to a question of the popularity of individ- 
uals. The public changes its opinion so readily 
and so frequently, that we do not get the time to 
take the measurement properly. Besides, when 
there are so many small men that achieve great- 
ness, what chance is left for men of larger caliber ? 

Fame, even under the most favorable condi- 
tions, is a most uncertain possession. Fame is like 
the mercury in a thermometer — down in the 
morning and up at noon. The mercury does not 
rise because it is hot, but because the sun or the 
atmosphere is hot. The mercury is only an indi- 
cator. And so it is with fame. It does not prove 
either the worth or the greatness of the one who 
becomes famous. It does indicate the fickleness 



172 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

and ofttimes the ignorance of the masses. It also 
indicates at times the skill, and at times the assi- 
duity, of those who have the making of reputa- 
tions, and who perhaps follow it as a business. 

Why should men expect or ask for fame? 
What have they done, what can they do, that enti- 
tles them to credit or compensation! No man ac- 
complishes anything alone, and so what is it that 
he can claim to have achieved? Whence arises 
the justice of the claim of any man above other 
men to a reward for any sensible, worthy or hu- 
mane act that he may have performed? He has 
done his duty, perhaps, as any man should, and yet 
he deserves not even so much as thanks. He does 
not deserve even honorable mention. Fame, hon- 
or and rewards are not things that belong justly 
to any man either living or dead. That is my 
doctrine, and it long has been my doctrine, on 
this subject. Honors never elevate or improve 
any one, and a sensible man never desires them. 
It is better to be without them. 

Fame, as intimated before, does not last- 
nothing lasts. The rocks do not last; countries 
perish, or their boundaries disappear; heroes per- 
ish, cities perish. Where is Persopolis, where is 
Babylon, where is Thebes, where is Sparta; 
where is Paul, where is Caesar, where are the 
Pharaohs? What is there in all that the world 
has to offer that would justify a sensible, thought- 
ful man in taking a life-time to acquire ? We call 
a man great, but does that make him great, or 
prove for a moment that he is great, or that he 
deserves to be called so? There is absolutely no 



PRAISE AND FAME 



173 



evidence in a reputation. So much is beyond all 
question. One great act does not make a man 
great, any more than one good act makes a man 
good. In fact what a man does in this case and 
that case is no proof that determines his real 
character. Character is something that it takes 
a lifetime to develop. A great man is one who is 
great every day in the week, but of such, there 
are none to be found. 

"What is there to inspire us with feelings of 
emulation? Why should we be interested in the 
acquirements or accomplishments of other peo- 
ple? And what are great feats? Merely what 
certain individuals find it easy to perform. 
Some men can turn a double-somersault, and some 
could not. That is all there is of the matter. 

Some like to be above other people. But 
what satisfaction can there be in being located 
at some great elevation? The higher up a man 
is, the more he is exposed. It is not pleasant at 
all to be at the top of Xotre Dame, in Paris, or St. 
Peter's, in Eome. It is much safer lower down. 
What is true of elevations if this character is true 
of elevations in society. To be a king, is to be 
well up in the world, but then consider the risks 
that he runs and the disadvantages that he la- 
bors under! And yet there are people who really 
like to be on some elevated spot where everybody 
can gaze at them! They covet exposure, even if 
they lose their lives by the venture. 



174 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



WHAT IS ART? 

Everybody imagines that he has a clear idea 
of the character and purposes of art, but few in- 
deed have anything but a very inaccurate concep- 
tion of its true nature and power. Really, every- 
thing that is done or achieved by man belongs in 
the domain of art. All those who have the skill 
that enables them to accomplish what they under- 
take are true artists. A painter is an artist, be- 
cause he expresses his ideas on canvas in such a 
manner as to leave a lasting impression on the 
minds of those who notice his productions. The 
poet is an artist for a similar reason, and so is the 
historian and the architect. Science is to know; 
but art is also to know. Knowledge comes before 
action in all cases. An actor is an artist, because 
he interprets, combines, contrasts and impresses. 
A musician, and especially a composer, is like- 
wise an artist. 

An artist is not, as many suppose, a copyist 
or an imitator. He is not even one whose busi- 
ness it is chiefly to adorn. He designs and cre- 
ates, if he be a true artist, on his own account. 
Sometimes he decorates or adorns, but that is not 
his ordinary mission. Artists, above all other 
men, are interpreters of nature. 

The world is full of artists. The Devil him- 
self is an artist ; the priest also is an artist, an ex- 
pert performer in his own department. Nobody 
knows half so well how to make a desired impres- 



WHAT IS ART? 



175 



sion upon man as the Devil and the priests. The 
politician does admirably in his way, too; and so 
does the lawyer. They are both artists. There 
is a great deal of policy in war, and where there 
is policy, a great deal of art is required to carry 
the policy into effect. Church performances are 
largely dramatic in character. They are supposed 
to be things done before the Lord, but they are 
usually things done before men, the design being 
to leave an impression upon the minds of those 
who are assembled. All parade, all pomp, all 
processions, are purely and exclusively dramatic. 

There is art in all the affairs of common life. 
Art is often found in ordinary conversation, espe- 
cially at social gatherings. Everywhere in this 
world, and particularly in civilized life, we find 
make-believe carried on systematically and per- 
sistently among men. In this practice, men are 
like children who, as we know, have an inordinate 
fondness, particularly in their sports, for making 
believe. They love to play parts, sometimes that 
of a bear, sometimes of an elephant, and sometimes 
a locomotive. It is all make believe, but carried 
on in dead earnest. Even the lower animals are 
artists who delight in similar sports. A young 
kitten will treat a paper ball precisely as it would 
a mouse that was trying to escape. Indeed, in our 
intercourse with men it is often difficult to decide 
just when they are in earnest and when they are 
only making believe. Things, and people espe- 
cially, are not always what they seem ; and to trust 
to appearances implicitly, sometimes proves dis- 
astrous. It cannot be borne in mind too well that, 



176 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

as before observed, this world is full of artists. 
Even the executioner is an artist, is be not? 

The best illustration as to how far we see 
things correctly, as well as how our ideas of na- 
ture develop with age and experience, may be 
found in the paintings and sketches of people in 
the early stages of civilization. If we examine 
the landscape and scenes as we find them in 
Egypt sculptured upon the walls of tombs, and in 
the ruins of temples and palaces, we shall be able 
to form a fair conception of how the people of that 
country looked upon their fields and gardens, and 
how they viewed the scenery about them. The 
old Egyptians painted and sketched what they 
saw very differently from ourselves, for the rea- 
son that they observed nature from a standpoint 
different from that to which we are accustomed. 
A rock or a river was not for them what it is for 
us; and a tree, to their minds, was an entirely dif- 
ferent object from what appears to our vision and 
enters into our conception when we observe such 
an object. Is it anything strange that the 
sketches that the Egyptians made were quite un- 
like the paintings that we find hung upon the walls 
of our museums at the present day? The trees 
that were sketched by the artists of ancient Egypt 
appear as if they were seen from a distance. We 
find their outlines sharply defined, like a cone or 
a pyramid thrown against the sky, and we find but 
little else. The Egyptians had but an imperfect 
idea of the actual size, color, form, character or 
appearance of an object. They had a fair notion 
of the position of things in their relation to other 



WHAT IS ART? 



177 



things; they could draw a sort of map or chart, 
and that was as far as they could go. To present 
objects as we do in our paintings and engravings 
was for them quite impossible; and so it is for all 
peoples in the early stages of their life history. 

The ideas of the Egyptians on the character 
and appearance of objects were so different from 
ours that we are quite unable to interpret their 
sketches as we interpret the sketches of our own 
artists of the present time. They had little or no 
idea of perspective, and of shading they made lit- 
tle use. Hence it is no wonder that when, in their 
sketches, they came to locate the different objects 
of a landscape or garden, as we locate them in a 
picture or drawing, they were practically helpless. 
It is always impossible for a man to see what he 
does not or cannot see, or to feel that which he is 
not old enough or wise enough to appreciate. 
There is strength of mind, like strength of body, 
for every one, but it can never pass a certain 
measure. The Egyptians, like many other people, 
were simply in the childhood state. 

We might note in this connection that the 
career of the old Greeks in the domain of art was 
very similar to that of the old Egyptians. They 
too saw the world as children see it, and as chil- 
dren they painted their forms and outlined their 
sketches. They presented their subjects in the 
crudest and simplest forms imaginable. They 
knew little of the value of shading, and of per- 
spective absolutely nothing. In fact their work in 
this line was little better than symbols; they did 
not make likenesses, they merely presented forms 



178 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



or strokes to remind the observer of certain ob- 
jects, which, it might be added, was the original 
design of all sketching. 

In the earliest ages of Greece, a god or a 
goddess was represented by a log or a block of 
stone. Placed upright it was a pillar, and the 
pillar finally developed into a statue. It is worthy 
of mention that the German saule, a pillar, is used 
to denote a statue, taking the usual form of bild- 
saule; and so the Greek Hon is used both to denote 
a pillar and a monument or gravestone. A new 
departure in early art was noticed in the head and 
face hewn at the top of the stone, leaving the lower 
part of the block untouched. In Moslem countries 
to-day, a stone post serves very generally for a 
tombstone, and often a head or turban is hewn at 
the top of the stone to indicate the resting place 
or a boy or a man. 

It is evident enough, in all cases of sculp- 
ture and painting, that the artist finally presents 
simply what he sees in his own mind, his concep- 
tion. Savages and children present objects as if 
seen from a distance. They are simple outlines, 
because they notice little or nothing else. The 
features of the face are generally overlooked by 
all native artists. In all their efforts, there is evi- 
dence of a lack of appreciation of all proportion. 
Of course, size has properly nothing to do with 
any sketch or picture. A camel may appear on 
paper with the bigness, or littleness, of a gnat, 
and yet it would still represent a full-sized camel. 
But what is demanded in all cases is the proper 
proportion of parts, and here is where the failures 



LANGUAGE 



179 



generally appear, even in the better classes of 
work. The head is too big or too little; or per- 
haps the ears, the hands, or the trunk is out of 
proportion. The proper size of any part is not 
given by the artist, because it is not known. It 
is not within the power of the eye to deter- 
mine size in any case with accuracy. We 
can measure, of course, but that is a me- 
chanical operation, and the result is merely 
a matter of inference or calculation, which is quite 
a different thing from perception through the 
senses. How much does measuring help to give us 
exact ideas of size, or distance, or quantity? How 
far is a mile, seventy rods, or five hundred rods? 
Who knows with any precision the height of one 
hundred feet, or even seventy feet? We are very 
much like savages, when it comes to a question 
of distance. It is either far or near with them, 
and that is about as close as they are able to de- 
fine. 



LANGUAGE AND PLAGIARISM 

What is language? Everything around us, 
everything that comes into view is language, be- 
cause everything that we encounter ordinarily has 
something to reveal to us. All art is language, 
and the better the expression of the idea, the bet- 
ter is the art. The landscape is language, in its 
way — so is the tree, the rock, the river, the flocks 
and the herds. In the words of the poet, there are 



180 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

"books in the running brooks, and sermons in 
stones." All things that come under our notice 
bring out thoughts that have been lying dormant 
within us; they simply give us ideas and induce 
us to think. That is all that a picture can do, all 
that language itself does, generally speaking. A 
cathedral is a picture, and so is a poem a picture, 
a presentation more or less elaborate of some life 
scene. Everything is a picture, if we are able to 
read and interpret it properly. We must know 
how to translate a language before we can under- 
stand and appreciate what is said. On that con- 
dition alone is any language intelligible, either to 
ourselves or to any one else. 

The fountain of all thought, all knowledge, 
lies within ourself. Our success and progress in 
life depends not so much upon what or how things 
are, as upon what they say to us and how we un- 
derstand them. The best of books are worthless 
to us, if we do not read them or do not understand 
them. Can we understand what we read, and 
have we an interest in the subject? That is the 
whole question, in such cases. Greek is Greek to 
everybody who does not understand the language, 
or at least does not have the key. The same is 
true of English or Hebrew. These tongues are in- 
telligible to some and wholly foreign and untrans- 
latable to others. So it is with a landscape, a 
mountain, or a mansion. All depends upon how 
things appear to us, and what we see in them. 
There is something of interest to be read and 
learned in everything in nature, provided we have 
learned our lesson properly in the first place. The 



LANGUAGE 



181 



untutored Indian observes a score of things in his 
walk through the forest that the white man would 
never notice, or that he could not interpret if he 
should notice them. 

We might add that every piece of art, a house, 
a painting, a figure, is a creation, a contrivance, a 
combination, entirely independent of all other 
things. All houses, it is true, resemble other 
houses, but they are never copies, no matter how 
much they resemble each other. There are no 
copies or imitations either in nature or in the 
works of man. A man who builds a house has got- 
ten his ideas from what he has seen, and yet his 
work is in no sense a copy. All we do in this 
world, at best, is to get ideas and acquire knowl- 
edge. It is nonsense to talk of copying, of plagiar- 
ism. No such thing as a copy, properly so called, 
anywhere exists. Would we copy anything if it 
did not please us and if it were not in harmony 
with our nature? Nothing pleases us, nothing is 
acceptable, unless we have grown up to it and have 
learned to appreciate its truth and beauty. We 
are all plagiarists, or no plagiarists exist. In a 
certain sense all learning is plagiarism; we get all 
that we know, in some way, at the expense of other 
people. Or in other words, if it were not for other 
people, we should never learn anything. Our com- 
munion in life is wholly with man. It is contact, 
friction, effort, that makes us learn. 

How should we go to work to steal a man's 
thoughts ? Who is the man that has any thoughts 
that we could steal? We can only steal thoughts 
from a man on condition that he really has 



182 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

thoughts that he himself owns to the exclusion of 
everybody else. What are the thoughts that any 
man really owns? We have never heard of any 
undisputed possession of that kind. If my neigh- 
bor happens to get a valuable thought a day or 
two earlier than myself, does that invest him with 
true ownership? Fortunately thought cannot be 
caged, as we do with beasts and birds, and it often 
happens that before a man gets ready to announce 
his discovery to the world, a dozen other men may 
have been favored with the same thought. 

In fact, no man is indebted to others for what 
he knows. It is a delusion to imagine that we 
learn from other people — we never do. What I 
learn to-day is because of what I knew yesterday 
and because of the efforts I have put forth in order 
to learn. Suppose my neighbor or my teacher has 
the wisdom of Solomon, what good would that do 
me, if I did not know something to start with and 
was not anxious to learn? The clearness of one 
man's vision never helps the perception of another 
man. This book now before the reader is filled 
with wisdom, but will it necessarily and of itself 
make anybody wiser? I fear not. Books to be 
appreciated at their full value must be read and 
understood. Those that are merely placed upon 
library shelves do not count. Then, it must be 
remembered that many people cannot read, and 
others again, cannot understand; and therefore 
they do not always appreciate what is placed be- 
fore them. What a broad gap there is between 
those who write books, and those who read 
them, or rather who do not read them! They 



BUSINESS CODE 



183 



never quite understand each other. In fact, they 
do not seem to try. What wonder is it that they 
often sit and make faces at each other, like chil- 
dren? The writer is apt to think that the peo- 
ple are stupid or indifferent; and the people in 
return are confident that the writer does not know 
as much as he evidently imagines he does. Doubt- 
less it always will be so. 



OUR BUSINESS CODE 



Where do we find our code of morals duly 
recorded to-day? It certainly is not in the Bible. 
That is a book seldom consulted at the present 
time, especially when we come to a question of 
what is right and what is wrong. Neither are 
we accustomed to consult our statute books when 
it comes to questions of this nature. Men latterly 
have but little fear of the law, and really no re- 
gard for it, except in the comparatively few cases 
where there is some danger of prosecution. The 
law never serves as a restraint upon the actions 
of men, except in those rare instances where there 
is some one who stands ready to see that it is en- 
forced. Of course, we all know that as a matter 
of fact only a small proportion of laws are ever 
observed or put in force. As long as no one com- 
plains, everything is quiet and matters go on with 
gratifying smoothness, precisely as if no laws had 
ever been enacted. 



184 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



But there is a new code of morality that is 
coming into vogue just now, a new rule of legiti- 
macy, a new standard of propriety. It is well 
known that the statute law, as already intimated, 
serves as a rule for only a small portion of the 
daily conduct of man, while much the larger por- 
tion is governed by the common law of the people, 
which is so shaped and so modified from year to 
year as to keep in harmony with the times, and 
with the recognized interests of our active and 
progressive citizens. The law that controls the 
conduct of men just now is simply business law. 
This common law of the people, or public senti- 
ment, decides what is right and what is wrong, 
or what is permissible and what is not, without 
any reference to laws passed by Congress or de- 
crees issued by the president. Many things that 
are considered crimes, according to our statutes, 
subjecting the offender, as they do, to fine and 
imprisonment, are passed over as things eminently 
proper by those who have the making and the 
unmaking of our common law of custom. 

According to statute law generally, it is a 
crime, punishable with imprisonment in a jail or 
in a penitentiary, to cheat or steal, or to rob one 's 
neighbor, under any pretense whatever. But ac- 
cording to our business code of the present day, 
the case is different, and nothing is more proper, 
or at least more customary, than to cheat and rob 
one's neighbor, particularly if the job is done in a 
neat and workmanlike manner, according to the 
prevailing business methods of procedure. In 
business ordinarily, the only opportunity that a 



BUSINESS CODE 



185 



man has to demonstrate his astuteness, and his 
superior sagacity, is when he can overreach or 
outdo his neighbor in some ordinary, or perhaps 
extraordinary, transaction. We all know that 
we are swindled and robbed every day by some 
one or more of those who are favored with our 
patronage. It is only a question of more or less — 
sometimes it is only a trifle, and sometimes the 
cheat amounts to quite an appreciable sum. Still, 
our patronage continues as usual. 

We are swindled in all sorts of ways, and 
then there is such a multitude of middle-men 
who come forward and demand their share of the 
tribute, like so many Arabs of the desert! We 
get it daily in the form of extortionate profits 
charged by the dealer, to enable him to get rich 
in an incredibly short space of time. It often 
comes in the form of shoddy goods sold to us as 
first class articles; and very frequently we pay 
our tribute in a disguised form through the me- 
dium of short weights, or measures more or less 
curtailed. 

We see and know, and even feel the wrong 
that we suffer, but we have become so accustomed 
to being defrauded in various ways, that we really 
wonder why men do not all cheat. As it is, we 
simply smile to notice how cleverly the trick is 
done. Pure sleight of hand! We adore smartness 
in this country, much more than they do in foreign 
lands. People can become accustomed to any sort 
of oppression, and finally they reach such a stage 
of insensibility, as to what they suffer, that black 
appears white to them and they actually come to 



186 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

call it by that name. People get to be color-blind 
after a time — in business matters, as well as in 
other cases. 

For centuries mankind have become so inured 
to slavery that it now appears to most of them to 
be quite the proper thing indeed — proper at least 
for the masters. ' \ What could we do, ' ' is their ex- 
cuse always. They really could not imagine how 
they could possibly subsist without masters — 
good, kind masters, to provide for people, and 
protect them. We have always had masters! 
Yes, and we have had murderers from the 
days of Cain down. But does the example set by 
any one or a thousand men make a wrong right? 
No, it never does. A crime is a crime, and its 
color is always black, no matter how much you 
bleach it, or even whitewash it. We might, in 
closing this topic, speak of the frauds perpetrated 
in the name of religion, and for its benefit, but the 
story is too qld, and the facts are too well known. 
We will pass on to a subject that is possessed of 
more interest. 



PROTECTION AND ITS ABUSES 

We have noticed, in our investigations thus 
far, that people often talk about things that they 
know little or nothing about. Moreover, their 
manifest ignorance does not seem to give them 
any concern. They not only do not know, and 
they know they do not know, and yet they are so 



PROTECTION 



187 



unconcerned! They do not care. This is espe- 
cially true of the subject of Protection, a matter 
that people talk very much about and of which 
they know very little. They have come to imagine 
that it is something that is good for everybody. 
But that is an error, as usual. Protection is some- 
thing that is good only for those who are pro- 
tected, and the number of these is very small, com- 
pared with the multitude that is not protected. 
Moreover, protection is not always good even for 
the one protected. 

It is assumed that the chief mission of govern- 
ment, or of the state, is the protection of its citi- 
zens. But what a serious misapprehension this is, 
and how far short it comes from being justified by 
the facts of the case! It is also assumed that one 
of the leading purposes that the state has in view, 
at all times and between all men, is to promote the 
cause of justice. But that is another delusion 
quite as serious as the one that we have just no- 
ticed. How could the state be just to all men? 
The fact is that it never even makes the attempt. 
It never really desires to be just, at least not at all 
times and to all men. What the state wants, and 
the only thing that it wants in this direction, is 
justice for its friends, its patrons, its clients, its 
supporters. What does it really care for those 
who do not happen to be classed among its 
friends u ? And for that matter, what does any one 
care for those who are not his friends, or for those 
who may not at some future time be both able and 
willing to render him some service 1 What every- 
body is looking for and constantly craving, in this 



188 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

blessed country of ours, is favors, friendly inter- 
position, and pecuniary assistance, whenever the 
opportunity occurs. That is what we are here 
for, and it is what our friends are here for. We 
are here to be helped, and they are here, sup- 
posedly, to render assistance in time of need and 
in cases of emergency. 

As a rule, everybody craves protection. We 
ail realize our feebleness, our littleness and our 
utter insignificance ; we are anxious, at the earliest 
opportunity, to ally ourselves with those who are 
both valiant and powerful, just as people did in 
feudal times. If people do not happen to have a 
castle themselves, they want to be on good terms 
with somebody that has one. We are all more or 
less inclined to a feeling of languor and efTemi- 
nancy, and we are never so happy as when we are 
able to lean upon somebody for support. We all 
want to rest some day in Abraham's bosom. We 
want somebody to love us dearly — somebody to 
work for us, favor us, please us, bless us. We are 
occasionally ready to do something for others, but 
it is only occasionally, and when we do, we uni- 
formly want our pay — ten, twenty, and possibly 
a hundredfold. Moreover, it is not the weak and 
helpless alone that desire help and that usually 
want favors and protection. The state itself 
wants constant attention, and it wants assistance 
regularly rendered. And what indeed would the 
Lord himself do, if there were no men and women 
to do him reverence and attend to the sacrifices 
and ceremonies ? We pause for a reply. 

But let us return to the topic with which we 



PROTECTION 



189 



began the article — state protection, or protection 
generally speaking. If it is the mission of the 
state to protect anybody, it is its duty to protect 
everybody. But that is practically impossible. 
If it protected everybody in general, it would 
clearly protect nobody in particular. In practice, 
it is well known that in every case where some one 
is protected, or favored in any way, hundreds, or 
perhaps thousands or tens of thousands, of others 
just as worthy are either neglected or seriously 
wronged in some way. But even this is not the 
whole story. It costs money to protect people in 
this or in any other country. But who pays the 
bill? The people, the masses, the consumers as 
we call them — they pay the bill. Protection, we 
repeat, is expensive, and those who are not pro- 
tected are the ones who uniformly bear the burden. 

Again we urge that the state cannot with any 
sort of justice or propriety select a few persons 
and favor them, to the exclusion of all others. It 
should protect all, if any, the bad as well as the 
good, the poor as well as the rich. But every- 
body knows that this is just the kind of protec- 
tion that never prevails either in this or in any 
other country. The state helps its friends, as 
already intimated, and it fails to recognize oth- 
ers. The state, bear in mind, is intensely human. 
Of course the state may sometimes be inhuman, 
but it never is superhuman. It is one of the 
earth's natural productions, just like every other 
production. People who make the mistake of ex- 
pecting to find something extremely noble or ele- 
vating in the state, quite forget its origin, its his- 



190 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

tory and the very ordinary elements which enter 
into the compound. It is men that make the 
state and that run the state. Men are the state, 
sometimes with the help of women and sometimes 
perhaps with a little inspiration from Providence. 

We have only to remark in conclusion that 
if there be any two things that the state should 
furnish at all times without money and without 
price, those two things are justice and protection. 
But as a matter of fact, in this country at least, 
they are actually the highest priced articles to be 
found in the market. They ought to be as free 
and as inexpensive as the air we breathe, but are 
they? If you want justice, you are compelled to 
go to law to secure it, and even then you often 
fail. What you are sure to get is a bill of costs 
to pay and much vexation. As to protection un- 
der the law, people should not use the word in 
that connection. There is no such thing in prac- 
tice. Nothing really protects a man at all times 
and in all places, from disease, accident, injury or 
loss of property, but his own individual strength, 
together with his own wise precaution and gen- 
eral good sense. 

The state affords practically no protection 
in this direction — nothing but a lawsuit, and that 
as everybody knows is not a pleasant thing to 
have in the family. However, a lawsuit is the 
only relief that the state has to offer. What its 
result shall be, nobody can prognosticate. Noth- 
ing is so uncertain as the verdict in a lawsuit. 
Law is much like war. There is very little in 
either that is fair to both sides. One side or the 



PREVISION 



191 



other is sure to be beaten, and the precise maneu- 
ver by which the result is attained is seldom 
known to the public. 



WANT OF PREVISION 



We are at best an easy-going, pleasure lov- 
ing people. It is rare that we are duly consider- 
ate or fairly thoughtful; altogether too generally 
we have a silly, childlike way of doing things all 
through life. It is seldom that we take any pains 
to be sure that we start right in the first place. 
Just from our aversion to labor, or to exertion 
of any kind, we are apt to let things go as they 
may. As a rule, we are too little concerned about 
what may possibly happen to ourselves or to other 
people, and rather than go to the trouble of tak- 
ing some sensible precautions, we are perfectly 
willing that the Devil may take the hindmost at 
any time, provided we ourselves escape un- 
harmed. Very few people are inclined to give 
matters any serious attention until they notice 
that something unpleasant has really occurred. 
To provide beforehand for what may occur, and 
what we might reasonably expect in advance, is 
rather exceptional. Even the state, the govern- 
ment, the king, the people, and the Lord himself, 
seem to be quite remiss in this direction. We 
settle down with the conviction that we cannot 
know the future, and so we treat it as a matter in 
which we have no immediate concern. But this 



192 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

is a great mistake that we make, among many 
other mistakes of a similar character. We do 
know the future, or we may know it, quite as well 
as we know anything in the world. In fact all 
that we know that is of any service to us pertains 
to the future. The past is gone, the present is a 
myth, and the future alone concerns us. We 
know all about the future that is really essential 
to our well being. We do not know the day and 
dates, it is true, but we know the course of nature, 
and we can rely upon its being regular and uni- 
form, within certain limits. We know that death 
will come and old age appear; we know that the 
seasons will change; we know, too, quite well that 
as we sow, so we shall reap in every instance. 
No, we have no lack of knowledge of the future, 
if we choose to avail ourselves of the lessons that 
are given us. But we might know very much 
more of what will surely occur, if we would only 
study, calculate and inquire. The coming wise 
man is the one who can best anticipate the hap- 
penings of the future. 

Ordinarily people do not care to encounter 
trouble till they reach it. As long as things are 
going right apparently, most people imagine that 
all efforts towards a prevention of accidents are 
quite unnecessary, if not improper. Nobody 
cares, nobody complains, nobody interferes — as 
long as nothing happens that is serious. This is 
the way all through life and in all the affairs of 
mankind. But let an axle break or a wheel come 
off; let some man quite unexpectedly lose an arm, 
or his head perhaps, and a commotion is sure to 



PREVISION 



193 



follow at once. An unusual noise and stir will be 
noticed in the bee-hive. Everybody will come out 
at once to see who is hurt and what has happened. 
Everybody looks around, takes a peep here and 
there, and finally comes to the conclusion that 
there is some accident or catastrophe in town, 
and something ought to be done. But nothing 
will be done, because in all such cases it is no- 
body's funeral finally but that of the ones who 
were so unfortunate as to be caught in the wreck. 
In case of a great calamity, the public usually has 
a spasm, but a spasm is always too sudden and too 
violent to be lasting. The most that will be done 
in such instances is to pass some wordy or windy 
ordinance or by-law, the president of the corpora- 
tion will endorse it of course — and then people 
will go and do just as they had been doing all 
along. Nothing more will be said, and nothing 
more will be done — till another accident or calam- 
ity occurs. 

So it is in all the ordinary affairs of man. 
So it is especially in all matters pertaining to 
health. We never make any great effort to keep 
well or to avoid sickness. But when we are pros- 
trated, or perhaps we do not feel well, then we 
send for the doctor in great haste. That is the 
way that everybody does usually. What would 
the people of this country do, if they could not 
send for a doctor when something happens or 
somebody is ill ? We really could not say.. 

To what has already been advanced in this 
connection, we would add this one criticism: Few 
persons are inclined to take life seriously. Every- 



194 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

body wants to glide through it or pass it by with- 
out giving it any deep thought or studied atten- 
tion People generally want to forget that they 
are living, or at least forget that they are men. 
This is a sad mistake that we are all inclined to 
make. There is nothing for us so worthy of constant 
thought and attention as life. It is all of life to live, 
and especially to know how to live. It is a study that 
includes all other studies. If we know how to 
live, what more have we to learn? To live like a 
sensible man at all times — there can be no higher 
or worthier ambition for any one. 



NEW PLEASURES 



Instead of continually striving to discover 
new pleasures, why should we not learn to enjoy 
the pleasures that are already at our command? 
Why not observe and study objects near at hand 
— watch them and notice how they develop under 
our observation? We may find something new 
and interesting any day, and wherever we are — 
among the flowers, in the foliage, in the scenery, 
among the birds, with the insects, in our walks 
every day. Ten thousand beautiful and enjoyable 
objects are before us and around us, and yet we 
never notice them for one moment! They do not 
happen to interest us or strike our fancy. What 
is more artistically beautiful than the flower of the 
common alderbush, or of the white or red haw- 



NEW PLEASURES 



195 



thorn, and yet how few ever carefully examine 
them! We are perpetually looking for hidden 
things, for things that we never find, and that no- 
body ever finds; or things at least that are expen- 
sive and hard to obtain. But the ordinary things 
around us, no matter how interesting, we usually 
overlook, because they are so exceedingly com- 
mon! A very poor reason indeed. We fail to en- 
joy because we fail to study and examine. No en- 
joyment comes to us without some little effort on 
our part; indeed, it is often our previous effort 
that gives to enjoyment its real value. 

Why not cease working, as we generally do 
work, without producing any adequate results! 
We visit too much, we feast and are feasted too 
much. What is the sense in simply entertaining 
people? A very large proportion of all the work 
that civilization demands from both the rich and 
the poor is done for show, and merely to keep up 
appearances. Everything is for glory and dis- 
play, and merely to maintain a name. Unques- 
tionably, we devote too much time and thought to 
pleasure. We eat for pleasure, we read for pleas- 
ure, we play for pleasure. Nothing has any value 
unless it affords us diversion in some way. It is 
all enjoyment with us e A large portion of our life, 
so far as we find it practicable, is given up to the 
pursuit of what we call happiness. If we could, 
we should sleep for pleasure and breathe for pleas- 
ure. We do not seem to be disposed to meet any 
of the wants of nature unless we extract pleasure 
from the operation in some way. We build 
houses not simply to protect us and keep us from 



196 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

exposure, but for the beauty that we find in the 
structure after it is completed. Our clothes are 
made upon the same principle and with similar 
objects in view. Articles are esteemed not ac- 
cording to their use and value but according to 
their cost. No wonder we have to work hard con- 
tinually to make ends meet, in this country. 
Every thing seems to be done for our diversion or 
enjoyment, and nothing is done simply and plainly 
to meet the ordinary demands of nature. And 
whither does such a theory or plan of life finally 
lead us? 

Savages do not follow our way at all. They 
eat simply to appease their hunger, and they hurry 
to get done with it as soon as possible; while we 
Christians, with our fancy dishes and numberless 
courses, extend the meal to inordinate lengths. 
It is a remarkable fact that the highest aim, and 
almost the only aim, in civilized life, is pleasure 
and enjoyment. The old Greeks were the most 
highly civilized people that the world has ever 
known. Their constant study was upon lines of 
beauty, and what they chiefly cultivated was a 
thirst for pleasure. They had unlimited time for 
rest and recreation, since they had slaves to do the 
work. For them, it was vacation season the whole 
year round. Is it any wonder that the old Greeks 
surpassed all other people in social crimes and re- 
volting indecencies! However, it must be added 
that they were honest about all they did; they 
made no pretensions, and they put forth no efforts 
to conceal their nakedness in any way. In fact 
they hardly seemed to realize how scantily attired 



PARASITES 



197 



they were. What we call wrong, the Greeks called 
right. That is simply the difference in peoples. 
What people call right, is right — there is no other 
standard, either for the virtues or the vices, to be 
found in the world. 



PARASITES 

Parasites are strikingly numerous. In fact, 
we are all parasites, more or less. We all in some 
way endeavor to live at the expense of others. 
We live to eat, it may be said, and we eat to live. 
We are like the whale and the octopus. Our ten- 
tacles are always spread out, and we are never so 
happy as when we catch something and promptly 
gulp it down. We are a little more particular 
about quality than our brethren are, the savages, 
but in the matter of quantity, there seems to be 
no limit to the demands of our appetite. We are 
like the silkworm, continually munching and stuff- 
ing, and stuffing and munching. 

Men are born animals, and they usually re- 
main so all through life. There is nothing that 
affords them so much satisfaction as the gratifica- 
tion of their appetites. 

We are, like the tree, a group of separate in- 
dividual existences, each intent upon freedom and 
each seemingly anxious to start in business on its 
own account at the earliest moment possible. 
Plants and vines cling to trees and live apparently 
on nothing. Air plants, it would seem, have noth- 



19 S NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

ing for their sustenance but the atmosphere and 
its moisture. The main business of life, appar- 
ently, is merely eating and devouring. It is often 
a question which is to go down, the parasite or 
the body to which it clings for support. 

Nature teaches one great lesson above all oth- 
ers, and that is the necessity of self-support. 
Upon this condition alone can life continue for any 
great length of time. In every case where one in- 
dividual tries to help its neighbor, it is compelled 
to neglect its own interests. It must not be for- 
gotten that among men also, every friend, viewed 
even in the most favorable light, is simply a para- 
site. He wants others to pay his debts, or to do 
the work that he, unquestionably, should do him- 
self. It is nice, for the recipient, that we should 
be obliging, but for ourselves it usually proves to 
be rather an exhaustive process. 

Our whole governmental system, it may be 
noted, is an organization of parasites. The offi- 
cers produce nothing; they simply subsist on what 
others produce. For the public at large, they are 
an expensive, and more or less unnecessary, para- 
phernalia. As a rule, they are fat and lazy drones 
the world over, the Turkish landlord being the 
type of the class. Their main business is to draw 
their pay and eat their rations. They are unin- 
vited guests, but they are guests none the less, and 
their usual place is at or near the head of the table. 
It is a mistake which the body politic makes, in 
this and every other country, to toil ceaselessly in 
order to insure a life of ease and luxury to a set 
of gentlemanly loungers who are known as the 



PARASITES 



199 



''government"! Under all systems where organ- 
ized government is found, the result is practically 
the same: the multitude does the work and bears 
the burdens, while the Lord 's anointed feed on the 
sacrifices and live like nabobs. In principle, it is 
all royal family, from the king down to the con- 
stable. They are all consumers at all times. But 
there is some consolation to know that such an un- 
just state of affairs will not exist forever. There 
certainly will be a change some day. The idea that 
people need and must have " government ' ' is a 
delusion, and nothing else. Men make their own 
masters always, and they can unmake them any 
day they choose. 

It may be added that parasitical developments 
will often be found where we would least expect 
them. The human body, like every other organi- 
zation, abounds in parasitic growths, externally 
and internally. It is well known that most dis- 
eases start from the operations of parasites. A 
cancer is a parasite; so are excrescences generally. 
They are individuals growing at the expense of 
the body and sapping its foundations as a living 
structure. And here is a new thought. Parasites 
frequently, as has been long known, live for a cer- 
tain period of their existence in the body of one 
animal, as the tapeworm does, and finally a cer- 
tain other part of their existence in the body of 
another and different animal. The tapeworm, 
when it is in the body of a human being, is to be 
counted as an essential part of that being. But 
was that not as true when the worm was yet 
in the body of the antecedent animal? Distance, 



200 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

or apparent separation, has nothing to do with in- 
dividuality. Our horse is our horse, whether it is 
in our yard or is a hundred miles away. The fruit, 
for instance, that we take into our stomach be- 
comes a part of our system. Was it not a part of 
ourself as well before it was swallowed as after? 
Or does temporary location change the status or 
relation of things ? 



LIFE IN A NEW PHASE 

People abound in notions, and a large por- 
tion of the conceptions which they form have no 
foundation in fact. Among these unfounded no- 
tions, they have this one in particular, that our 
knowledge comes, either wholly or mainly, through 
the medium of the senses; and that those who do 
not have access to these avenues of knowledge, 
can hardly be said to live and enjoy life. Never 
having been blind themselves, they do not know 
what it is to be blind; and the same may be said 
of deafness. But this want of experience, with its 
consequent want of knowledge, does not by any 
means prevent people from forming their own 
opinions and stating their own views with great 
fullness and freedom, on this or any other sub- 
ject that happens to be presented. It is a curious 
fact, but one well enough known, that people as a 
rule do not need knowledge to enable them to 
form their opinions. A large part of all the opin- 
ions that prevail among men have been formed 



A NEW PHASE 



201 



without knowledge, and in fact, in many cases 
in direct contravention of the little knowledge 
which they may have gained in early life. 

In this connection, we might refer briefly to 
the case of Helen Keller. This bright and inter- 
esting girl, now grown to be a young woman, was 
deaf and blind from infancy, and as might be ex- 
pected, she is also speechless. Bereft as she 
seemingly is, we are naturally inclined to com- 
miserate the unfortunate being and extend to her 
our heartfelt sympathies. Here is another case, 
among thousands of similar instances, where we 
think we know, or we assume to know, what un- 
questionably we do not and cannot know. Never 
having been absolutely blind, or absolutely deaf, 
how shall we ever be able to put ourself in the 
position and have the feelings of one who from in- 
fancy has been deprived of both these senses! 

It is a very difficult thing — it is even quite 
impossible — to put ourself in the place and condi- 
tion of other people; and still we are too much in- 
clined to go on expatiating on what we imagine 
others think and how we believe they must feel. 
And this is the very feat that we are trying to 
perform every day, and even every hour, of our 
lives. In fact we are constantly feeling for other 
people, and in many cases shedding copious tears 
over their sorrows and misfortunes, when really, 
in most instances, our sympathies and polite at- 
tentions are not desired. In nine cases out of 
ten, what is most wanted by those whom we con- 
sider to be so stricken and unfortunate is simply 
to be left alone! 



202 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

Even Helen Keller does not complain because 
she lacks some of the senses; she rather rejoices, 
it is said, that the great human heritage of light, 
color and song is inalienably hers, even though in 
this incarnation, she knows them not. She her- 
self appreciates the fact that "the mind of the 
sightless is, essentially, the same as that of those 
who see." 

It is a great mistake to imagine that Miss 
Keller is a unique person, a sort of monster per- 
haps, or nondescript. There are fewer monsters 
in this world than are commonly supposed. 
Nothing in all nature is made in vain; no being is 
wholly perfect, we know, as none is wholly imper- 
fect, but in all cases it will be found that ample 
compensation, as in the case of Miss Keller, is 
made for what seems to be lacking. This lady, 
it is true, cannot see, but defective vision, it must 
be remembered, is a very common weakness 
among people, especially those in declining years, 
and the same is true of the sense of hearing. In 
the dark, we are all equally blind, and so we are 
for all points beyond a certain distance. It is not 
things, but the qualities and quantities of things 
that distress us. Poison in every case depends 
upon the quantity taken. It is also a question 
of more or less, we shall find, when it comes to the 
subject of failings and bereavements, for all man- 
kind. The sense of smell is often weak, or lost 
entirely; and taste or touch is frequently left un- 
cultivated. In the uses of the senses of smell and 
touch, the savage races far surpass the civilized. 
A red man can detect a white man, wholly by the 



A NEW PHASE 



203 



sense of smell, without seeing him — just as white 
people may "smell a mouse " without discerning 
the little animal. 

Miss Keller, as we notice in her book recently 
published, uses excellent English, and her words 
are uniformly well chosen. What she writes is 
plain, concise, direct, quite intelligible and always 
pleasing. We know indeed that her words have 
not the same meaning for herself that they have 
for her readers. But that experience is not ex- 
ceptional; it is something that happens to every 
one who writes. No word has precisely the same 
meaning for any two persons under any circum- 
stances. Every man has his own God, in his own 
mind, as he has his own picture always of what 
he sees or imagines. 

We notice, among other things, in Miss Kel- 
ler's statement, that she is quite philosophic in her 
reflections, and when she comes to questions of 
this character, she always states her propositions 
with great care and in full accordance with the 
facts of the case: 

Not in touch or smell, but in the power of in- 
ward vision, does Miss Keller find the essence of 
life's experience. 

"Our blindness,' ' she says, "changes not a 
whit of the course of inner realities. The most 
beautiful world is always entered through the imag- 
ination." 

"The real world exists only in the mind." 
' ' Deafness and blindness do not exist in the imma- 
terial mind, which is philosophically the real world. 



204 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

Reality, of which visible things are the symbol, 
shines before my mind. ' ' 

There is another and still more important 
view of Miss Keller's case: What man or woman 
that history mentions ever accomplished so much, 
with such limited means at command, and under 
such adverse circumstances, as this brilliant young 
woman? It is true, kind friends assisted and en- 
couraged her, but how very little it was that even 
the kindest and most powerful friends could do, in 
a case apparently so hopeless as that of Helen 
Keller! She herself did the work which no one 
else was able to do. It was her genius, her indus- 
try, her perseverance, her irresistible will, that 
brought victory at last. 

What a grand lesson this young woman fur- 
nishes for those who are willing to learn! What 
a triumph was hers, and how great her reward! 
Her joys in this direction can never be appreciated 
by those who have had no such experience. 

To the foregoing review of this case, it may 
not be amiss to add the following reflections: 
Unquestionably, we learn nothing from the outside 
world, though we learn much through the help of 
those with whom we happen to be thrown in con- 
tact. Indeed, we have no means of communicat- 
ing with the outside world. All beings or crea- 
tures have their own peculiar language, and so 
likewise has every species its dialect. How can 
two people with different tongues ever come to 
understand each other ? They never can do so in fact. 
They can and do use signs and so they acquire a 
sort of substitute for knowledge — but they can 



A NEW PHASE 



205 



never comprehend fully and clearly all that is said. 

We have no possible means of ascertaining the 
feelings and thoughts of other people. We know 
our own feelings, and we can never pass beyond 
that limit. We can never ascertain through any 
possible agency or contrivance how other people 
feel, or how they think or see. 

We have what we call language, but it is very 
indefinite, generally inaccurate, and as a whole it 
is extremely unsatisfactory in results. People 
never understand each other, no matter how much 
amplification is employed, nor how many words 
are introduced. We imagine we communicate 
our thoughts to others, and we come to believe that 
they actually comprehend what we say, but they 
rarely do. People can comprehend their own 
thoughts, and that is as far as they can go. We 
never even know how far people see or how far 
they can hear. If we could make others see 
as we see and understand all that we say, we 
might soon make them converts to any doctrines 
that we may have to offer. But every writer and 
thinker knows that such an achievement is utterly 
impossible. As words have no exact meaning and 
no definition that applies specifically in any one 
case, people are never able to obtain accurate 
and reliable ideas on any subject. 

All that we can do in science and literature 
that might be of service to others is, by some 
method, to awaken their attention and develop 
tkeir thoughts. We cannot do their work for them 
— everybody must do his own work at last, or it 
must remain undone. The learner who wishes to 



206 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



be a learner must begin at the bottom, with the 
elements, and work up. Simply to jump up or look 
up will never answer the purpose. He must go 
along gradually and be sure to skip none of the 
intermediate steps. He must study, investigate, 
reflect. 

The reason why people do not accept our 
teachings is simply because they do not under- 
stand us. They not only have not traveled our 
route, they also have not gone as far as we have. 
So long as people remain ignorant of our thoughts, 
feelings, purposes and conceptions, how should we 
expect for a moment to convert them to a belief 
in our doctrines? There are really but two ways 
to make converts and gain followers. One is Ma- 
homet's way, that of killing those who decline to 
accept the doctrines offered to them, and the 
other, the modern way, that of striving to induce 
• people to think, study and grow. This is all that 
will be found practicable in any case. We may do 
something to set people moving in the right direc- 
tion, but what more can be done? The modern 
way of conversion is provokingly slow, but it has 
the merit of being sensible and just. If people 
would only allow themselves to grow, regularly 
and naturally, there need be no doubt that the 
truth would come to them, as it does to others, in 
due season. 

The danger is not that people will not think 
right, it is rather, if we may judge by the past, 
that they will not think at all. They will not work 
their own land, and so they let it to those who 
will work. Just so when it comes to the business 



A NEW PHASE 



207 



of thinking. They farm that out to people who are 
glad to do the thinking for them. But this, it will 
be found, is a dangerous step to take. Want of 
thought gives the country slaves instead of skilled 
and industrious workmen. Those who are allowed 
to do the thinking and planning for the world are 
always its masters. 



The case of Miss Keller reminds us of asking 
when we may be called fortunate, and when un- 
fortunate? When may we be called sick, and 
when are we really well, when free from aches 
and aliments of all kinds? What shall we con- 
sider a positive good, and what an unqualified 
or unmitigated evil 1 Some people are always un- 
fortunate, because they believe themselves un- 
fortunate. Some are always sending for the doc- 
tor and are anxious to try some new prescription. 
They feel sick simply because they think they are 
sick, believe they are sick. If people could be 
made to believe in some way that they were well, 
they would never think that they were sick. 
Everything comes to us as we happen to feel. The 
favors of this world come to those who deserve 
them, and who are prepared to receive and enjoy 
them. They are not confined to any one group nor 
to any particular individual. It is a serious error 
to believe that the race is always to the swift, or 
the battle to the strong. Dead force is of no great 
account; the question is, how is the force handled 
and where is it applied ? 



208 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



We must begin — and we should begin early — 
to take a new view of life. When we come down 
to the realfacts of the case, this is either a bad 
world or a good world — it cannot be both, or part 
of one and part of the other. A man is not bad 
because he occasionally does a bad thing. Taking 
np the question of health again, when are we sick 
and when are we well? Are we not always sick 
and are we not always well? There is always 
some trouble to complain of. So it is with the 
affairs of this world generally. We can find plenty 
of things that are wrong, if we only imagine they 
are wrong. Helen Keller is quite right in her 
proposition: " The real world exists only in the mind.' 1 
If we feel blue, the world looks blue, and if we 
feel happy, everything appears agreeable. 

It should not be forgotten for a moment that 
no distinct or undisputed line has ever been drawn 
between what we may call evil and what we may 
call good. As we have said over and over again, 
it is solely a matter of opinion, in this case, as it 
is with other ideas that we have formed of things. 
Beyond all doubt, what is good for one is bad for 
another, and what one man pronounces excellent, 
another man speaks of in anything but favorable 
terms. What is a poison at one time, or in one 
case, is a medicine at another. We are too apt to 
call things evil because they involve a loss of prop- 
erty or are a source of pain and inconvenience. 
But if evil were to be established on such a basis 
as this, where would the conclusion finally lead 
us ? The medicines we take are often the cause of 
nausea, and the surgeon with his merciless knife 



A NEW PHASE 



209 



cuts and carves without any seeming regard for 
the sufferings of his patient. The doctor often 
kills in his efforts to save, and nature frequently 
does the same thing. Properly considered, every 
disease operates along the line of a remedy, though 
of course not always with success. However, there 
is no doubt that the tendency in nature of every 
so called evil is to produce a desirable result. We 
need storms just as much as we need fair weather, 
and it is quite as natural and quite as regular to 
be ill as to be well, and to die as it is to be born. 

There is no wrathful God — no place to put 
such a being, and no office for him to perform. 
The Devil himself has long been looked upon with 
distrust, and he has now come to be totally dis- 
regarded by all intelligent men. We find it wiser 
to act in harmony with nature than to run counter 
to its methods and teachings. To improve the 
world, it is only necessary for us to improve ourselves. 
We call the world bad merely because it looks bad 
to us. We have a constant tendency to mourn for 
the unfortunate, when if we understood their cases 
better, we should find them often enjoying life 
better than we do ourselves. The happiest people 
as a body are usually those who are found in mad- 
houses and idiot asylums. The true sources of 
happiness are found in our mind, and the avenues 
that lead therefrom are numerous. An insane 
man is not necessarily an unfortunate being. In- 
deed, it is hard to draw the line between the mad- 
man and the man of genius. Those who reach the 
ecstatic state, like Mahomet, Schopenhauer, Bea- 
consfield and Comte, might well be classed with 



210 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



those who have periodic spasms or spells. Almost 
every so called great man comes to be troubled 
finally with an affection known as 4 4 enlargement 
of the head." 

Is it possible to change the state of a man's 
mind, and consequently his direction in life? It 
certainly is. Food will have that effect, so will 
drink, so will hypnotic influences of all kinds. A 
very small thing will sometimes lead to a very im- 
portant change in this direction. Education, if it 
is of the right kind and applied at the right time 
and in the right manner, will be found to be effica- 
cious, but only provided that the impression 
which it leaves is not negatived by some other 
and more lasting impression coming from some 
other source. But education, be it remembered, 
is the work of a life time ; and even then when the 
end of the career is reached, how often are we 
amazed at the littleness of results and the utter 
lack of anything like an attainment or an achieve- 
ment! The great mistake that people make, the 
old and the young alike, lies in the belief that 
their education properly ends with a certain num- 
ber of years in school and college. If they would 
develop thought on this subject and come to view 
the matter aright, they would understand that 
this is really the time when their education prop- 
erly begins — after they have left the seminary or 
college and have come to take their place in the 
world. 

As we have already noticed, it is very impor- 
tant that we should have correct views in regard 
to all matters in which we have any special con- 



A NEW PHASE 



211 



cern. As is well known, a large portion of the ills 
and misfortunes of life arise from an unfortunate 
misapprehension on our part as to the plans and 
purposes of nature. Too many people start out 
with the unwarranted assumption that the world 
was made for man, and for him exclusively. In- 
deed, such an intimation is found in the early chap- 
ters of our Bible. But it is a manifest error. 
There is absolutely no evidence to be found any- 
where to sustain the doctrine that it is the plan 
of nature in any case to make one thing for an- 
other. If nature has any plans at all, one of them 
certainly is, that everything should stand upon 
its own platform, and that living creatures should 
depend upon their own energies for their con- 
tinued subsistence. When these energies are final- 
ly exhausted, the animal sinks and dies, and no 
power on earth is able to add a day to its allotted 
period of existence. 

Over and over again we have seen that most 
of our troubles arise from some unfortunate view 
that we are accustomed to take of things. When 
we are constantly looking for troubles, we are 
sure to find them, in our travels, sooner or later. 
We are always talking about i 'the battle of life. ' ' 
We seem to find battles, as Martin Luther found 
devils, everywhere. This is not remarkable, it is 
simply natural. It will be noticed that devils 
seldom bother ordinary people. If we notice a 
river flowing peacefully and steadily down toward 
the sea, we cannot avoid observing what a strug- 
gle it has and what obstacles it must encounter, 
on its journey day after day! Starting out with 



212 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



this mournful thought, we cannot help but feel 
sad to think of this unfortunate river. And so 
it is with the "battle of life." We are always 
finding struggles where none really exist. If we 
find something in our way, all we have to do is to 
go quietly over it or around it, as the river does. 
It is not at all necessary for the river to wait until 
the obstacle is removed. 

People are apt to have too much feeling, too 
many apprehensions; they are too intellectual, 
they think and know too much, and as a result 
they multiply their pains and sorrows far beyond 
due measure. There is nothing at all wrong about 
obstacles. They have their place in nature quite 
as well as we have. We ourselves are often ob- 
stacles in the way of other creatures or things. 
Troubles can readily be found, if you start out to 
search for them and make of the matter a study. 
Some people get into trouble simply as a result 
of the exalted opinion that they have formed of 
themselves, their importance and value. 

There is indeed one serious obstacle in our 
pathway that we cannot fail to recognize, and this 
is our Bible. As a book of life for those living in 
this advanced age, and having such tastes, feelings 
and interests as we have, such a volume, at this 
time, is worse than worthless. Very true it is, few, 
if any, read the book for guidance or instruction, 
but we have, with the rest of mankind, inherited 
the teachings and doctrines that have come down 
from past centuries, and it is impossible to cast 
these aside just now, even if such might be our 
desire. For a people situated as we are, the laws 



EVIDENCE 



213 



and lessons found in the Bible are a sad misfit. 
These mandates and dogmas date back hundreds, 
and perhaps thousands of years, and no matter 
how excellent they may have been at some time 
and for some places, they do not answer our pur- 
pose at present. We should realize the fact, and 
act upon it, that no law or precept is good for all time; 
and to prevent friction and resistance, we must 
change our laws from time to time, so as to have 
them correspond with the advancement of the age. 

The reformation which Mahomet introduced, 
six hundred years after Christ, was a far greater 
success as a religion than that which is supposed 
to have been inaugurated by Moses for the Israel- 
ites. It was well adapted, not for the wants and 
circumstances of all peoples, but for such an east- 
ern race as that for which the Koran was intended, 
This book has unity and power, and it furnishes to- 
day the fundamental law for nearly two hundred 
millions of people. As a code, it has been, and is 
still, an astonishing success. 



THE MATTER OF EVIDENCE 

The subject of proof, of evidence or testimony, 
we have touched upon casually as we passed along 
in this work, but it is something that deserves 
special attention and separate treatment, so that 
it may be understood or accepted at its full value, 
and that the reader may not be deceived in the 
impressions that may be left on his mind. 



214 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



It will readily be perceived, even on slight 
inspection, that in all matters of evidence and 
belief we take everything on trust. Sometimes 
we trust our own senses, and sometimes the testi- 
mony of other people. Our belief, our thoughts, 
our impressions, are wholly the result of testimony 
of some kind. And yet how indifferent we are on 
this very important subject! We never have any 
established convictions as to what is and what is 
not trustworthy testimony. Some people accept 
one thing as proof, and others require testimony 
of a different character. The peculiarity notice- 
able in all evidence is the fact that it is never 
final or irresistible. We are in all cases free to 
believe or disbelieve as we choose, and as we have 
seen, what is evidence for one is not evidence for 
another. The whole matter of belief or disbelief 
rests with the individual inquirer himself. 

In olden times, people were always believing 
in signs and symptoms. They had some confidence 
in what their friends said, but they had more 
confidence in signs and prodigies, since these they 
believed to be really the work of God. In the time 
of Christ, people were always looking for a sign^ 
as a prognostication of what was about to come. 
Among the Eomans, the people were constantly 
observing the flight of birds, as they examined 
the entrails of victims, to ascertain what might be 
expected. It might be noticed that even at this 
late day, we also believe in the flight of birds. 
We judge of the coming weather by the flight of 
wild geese, noticing whether they are moving 
toward or away from the great waters of the north. 



EVIDENCE 



215 



We also place great reliance upon the testimony 
that we find laid down in the almanacs and news- 
papers. Surely, men will never cease to believe 
in signs. It is cheap testimony, but it is generally 
accepted. 

Many people still believe in witches, because 
they notice the signs and believe the testimony. 
If a cow is found to be bewitched, as still happens 
occasionally, it must be the work of some witch. 
The only question is, who is the witch? It is 
true that everybody does not believe in witches 
now as people did formerly, but that is because 
they do not attend to the evidence. They had 
witches in early Bible times. Why not witches 
now? There is just as much testimony in that 
direction now as ever there was. The only trouble 
is that people are so incredulous! 

It is surprising how much trust we place in 
very slight evidence. When we really desire to 
believe something, almost any evidence will an- 
swer, and in certain cases no evidence at all is 
required. Many cases in court are decided with- 
out evidence, and sometimes even against evi- 
dence. The judge, it will be remembered, is just 
like any ordinary mortal. He can believe what 
evidence he likes, and reject all the rest. He can 
decide the case without evidence, as people often 
do in common life. And yet men are hanged or be- 
headed, or perhaps imprisoned, by the order of just such 
a court as that ! It seems all right till you come 
to look the matter all over and view the subject 
in its true light.. And then how monstrous this tragedy 
appears as it is enacted day after day in civilized life! 



216 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

What was done in the last days of Eobespierre 
is done over and over again to-day in every civ- 
ilized land on the globe. There is more regard 
for appearances to-day — that is all. People are 
hnng or beheaded to-day just as they were in the 
Eeign of Terror, either with or without evidence, 
for no other reason in the world than to get them 
out of the way. After one's enemies are dead, they 
cease to be troublesome. That is the theory on 
which the executioner acts, and so it is that an- 
other head goes into the basket. No crimes were 
ever committed more horrible than those which 
have had the hearty approval of God and the gen- 
erous sanction of law. We are all, be it remem- 
bered, faithful followers of the Lord! 

It is well to bear in mind that there is no 
such thing as indubitable evidence. It is always 
circumstantial in its character, and its only office 
is "to lead to an impression of some kind. The 
whole case is decided finally by the court, and that 
means simply the will or wishes of the judge. It 
is a serious error to suppose that suits at law, or 
questions in common life, are decided uniformly 
on valid testimony. They are often decided 
against testimony, upon the whims, the fancy, the 
prejudices, or perhaps the interest of the court. It 
too often happens that the testimony given is a 
small factor in the case. What finally settles the 
question, is how the court happens to feel about 
the matter, or how he views the case — and so it is 
in all the affairs of life. Our fate, everybody's 
fate, depends upon how people happen to look at things. 

And yet we love to talk about our fondness 



EVIDENCE 



217 



for truth, and our readiness at all times to fight 
for justice ! As a matter of fact, the truth that we 
love is that which favors our side of the case, and 
the same may be said of justice. We talk much 
about evidence — most people do — and yet they 
have but a child's view of its true character and 
history. As a general thing, people are so anxious 
to have their enemies punished, and to have those 
put away whose presence is not agreeable, that 
they will do almost anything to accomplish their 
purposes. They do not wait to have their enemies 
proved guilty. They have them arrested, and 
often put in irons or in jail, before any evidence 
whatever is produced. They want to see if the 
offender cannot be pronounced guilty in some way, 
by the court. After that, all is easy enough — just 
like rolling down hill, the force of gravity fur- 
nishing the required power. It should be borne 
in mind that the chief office of the criminal court, 
with its Middle Age processes, is to punish the 
enemies of those in power and to favor their 
friends as far as practicable. Wherein does such 
action differ, in theory and practice, from the In- 
quisition? The courts are too often the instruments 
with which wicked men carry out their designs. As a 
rule, in court matters, we see only the results. 
We rarely perceive the iniquitous methods by 
which these results are attained. We should hard- 
ly expect to find such relics as instruments of tor- 
ture placed on exhibition in some front room. 
Such things are rarely made conspicuous in any 
country, and still there was a time, not so very long 



218 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

ago, when they were deemed quite indispensable 
in certain European trials. 

The weakest point in the whole matter of 
evidence lies in the fact, well enough established, 
that too high an estimate is usually placed upon 
the quantity of evidence, while little regard is 
given to the quality. In practice, the word of one 
man counts for as much as that of another man, 
no matter how much or how little he knows, for 
witnesses as a rule have a common rank and be- 
long to one class. And yet we know very well 
that one man may be a good, and another a very 
poor judge of the matter in question, and so one 
would make a reliable witness, while another 
would not. Merely because a man says a thing 
is so or not so, is no evidence at all. We must first 
know all about the man himself who appears as 
a witness. Even a good clock may keep very 
poor time. It may need repairs, and so it is with 
witnesses. They do not always tell the truth, 
either in court or out. The question is: What do 
they know, and what is their history? 

As to the value of an oath, we have come to 
the time when what a man swears to is no stronger 
or better than what he simply affirms. As to the 
Bible on which witnesses make oath, almost any 
other book would answer just as well. The truth 
does not come from the Bible but from the witness 
himself. Some people prefer relics on which to 
make oath, but they can hardly be recommended. 

Proof establishes nothing, demonstrates noth- 
ing. If anything is true, it is so without proof and 
before proof is produced; and again, if a proposi- 



EVIDENCE 



219 



tion is not true in the first place, no amount of 
evidence or logic or manipulation will ever make 
it true. Evidence is an extraneous matter and has 
nothing to do, practically, with the question at 
issue. Proof is merely a sort of contrivance or combina- 
tion by which the minds of men are influenced. Facts 
never prove themselves. Evidence must come from 
the outside, from independent sources. Proof lies 
not in facts demonstrated but in mere signs or cir- 
cumstances that are supposed to lead to a convic- 
tion on the part of the one who is to decide the 
question. 

It is a remarkable fact well known to all ob- 
serving men, that in our courts a man may be sent 
to prison or the gallows, for crime, on evidence 
that would not suffice for the collection of an ordi- 
nary debt. A man may be convicted of crime on 
circumstantial evidence, on mere suspicion, when 
there is nothing better at command; but to prove 
a debt or a claim to property requires evidence of 
the most direct and positive character. 

Proof, by which the reality of things is sup- 
posed to be established, ought to be found at the 
bottom, while as a matter of fact it is uniformly 
found at the surface. We call it proof, but we 
never know whether it is so or not. At best it is 
merely what somebody thinks or somebody says. 
No proof goes beyond that. How sad it is that the 
fate of men, of all men, should depend entirely 
on what other men think or say! There must be 
something radically wrong in a system that takes 
such proof as that for the basis of evidence. This 
system assumes that every witness is both compe- 



220 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



tent and honest. It seems to be forgotten that 
it is as natural for men to lie, on occasion, as to 
speak the truth. What is more common than per- 
jury in law trials! And yet perjured testimony 
answers as well as any other, so long as it stands 
unchallenged. 

The time will doubtless come when we shall 
have no such word as truth, because there will be 
no use for it. People will not speak of good and 
evil, right and wrong, true and false; they will 
know no such distinctions. They are hardly 
known to-day among the uncivilized races. 



A few excerpts from an essay on Human Tes- 
timony by Dr. George M. Beard, in Popular Science 
Monthly, 1878, will doubtless serve to strengthen 
the positions taken in this work, and they are 
given here: 

On every page of the writings of the Tubingen 
school, as De Wette, Bauer, Paulus, Strauss, we 
find evidence of the imperative need of a recon- 
struction of the principles of evidence. 

Nearly all the acquisitions and experiences of 
life are forgotten, even by the best memories — 
yet judgment is largely the result of memory. 
(Good judgment without a good memory is im- 
possible.) 

Human testimony comes from the human 
brain. The best results of cerebral activity are 
largely involuntary, if not unconscious. 



EVIDENCE 



221 



With children, as with adults, life is but a 
series of unremembered experiences. 

All boasted human learning is a temporary 
treasure, a loan, rather than a permanent gift. 
Scholarship consists in knowing where knowledge 
can be found. 

Great advances in science are not made in 
courts of justice. 

(Even where people do remember, they do not 
do so with accuracy or completely. Only a few 
things are grasped by any observer.) 

It is not the eye, but the brain behind the eye, 
that sees. When our youths are taught, as in the 
near future they must be, that the larger portion 
of historical literature is of no worth to those who 
seek for the truth from that source, the process of 
education will be much simplified. The area of 
what has hitherto passed for "sound learning" 
will be greatly restricted. 

The historical writings of Prescott and Irving 
are especially open to criticism. They are to be 
considered as fiction. The best novels are better 
histories than much of professed history. 

The world's greatest follies and darkest un- 
truths have always some justly honored authority, 
in theology, in literature, in philosophy, in law, 
and in science itself — a Mathew Hale, a Lord 
Bacon, a Wesley, a Cotton Mather, an Elliot, a 
Hare, a Lardner, an Emerson, an Agassiz — to 
stand by their bedside, armed with syllogisms, 
trusting their senses (as usual), and conscientious- 
ly striving to nurse them back to vigorous life. 



2 22 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



There are no superstitions so superstitious as 
the superstitions of scientific men. 

It is said that it is "easier to dupe a clever 
man than a fool." 

Sir William Hamilton asks very pertinently, 
' ' Of what account are the most venerated opinions, 
if they be untrue f At best they are only venerable 
delusions. ' ' 



CONVICTIONS AND CONVERSIONS 

Much of what is said under this head will be 
found scattered here and there on other pages of 
this work. In this article, the thought will be 
found somewhat elaborated, and the evidence will 
be so arranged and it will be presented in such 
orderly connection as to leave a more lasting im- 
pression upon the mind of the reader. 

All that we have in this world, all that we 
know, and all that we have to rely upon in the 
affairs of life is simply our convictions, our im- 
pressions, our belief and opinions. There are for 
us no facts or truths beyond what we find in our 
impressions. And whence do these come, how do 
they arise and how are they directed, and con- 
trolled? The answer to these questions will ap- 
pear to a greater or less extent as we proceed 
in the treatment of the subject. 

In the first place, it is a fact beyond all doubt 
that our ideas are never matters of ordinary traffic 
and transfer. They are not articles of bargain and 



CONVICTIONS AND CONVERSIONS 223 

sale, and they cannot be passed from hand to hand 
or from soul to soul. A man may be educated, as 
a plant may be cultivated, but in all education, no 
matter what form it takes nor how long it lasts, 
there is nothing that ever passes from the teacher to 
the taught. No person, young or old, can by any 
possibility get outside of or beyond the boundaries 
of his own soul. That fact is established beyond 
all question. Education is development, and it is 
never anything but development. If we did not 
have the seeds of all knowledge within us, how 
should we ever be able to know or to acquire 
knowledge? How should we ever be able to ob- 
tain new oaks, if there were no acorns in the first 
place % It must be evident that education, like all 
knowledge, must be something that grows, and 
where there is no plant to begin with, there can 
be no progress or development. Again, there are 
wireless communications that are passing and re- 
passing about us daily, and yet we fail to notice 
them. We are like the ships that do not possess 
the required apparatus to enable them to receive 
the messages that are sent out by wireless teleg- 
raphy. So there are many things that we fail to 
see, simply because of the feebleness of our vision. 

As to conversions, I am confident that they 
are different always from what people ordinarily 
suppose they are. No man is ever actually re- 
newed, or changed into a new being. He may, 
under certain influences, develop new traits and 
present new symptoms, but it will be found on 
closer acquaintance, with persistent inquiry, that 
he remains the same creature that he was for- 



224 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

merly. So, a locomotive may leave its accustomed 
track, and start off on a journey into the country. 
But it will be found that it makes no progress, be- 
cause it is working in a new field under new con- 
ditions. However, the locomotive remains the 
same complicated piece of machinery under all 
circumstances, and if it cannot travel, it can come 
to a standstill. It has not changed, and it cannot 
change, its original character in the slightest de- 
gree. So it is with a new convert to some new 
religion. He changes much less than he is com- 
monly supposed to have done. He has some new 
symptoms, some new notions perhaps, but he re- 
mains the same Hindoo or African native that 
he was in the beginning. 

We find it generally stated as a matter of 
history that in the early centuries of the Chris- 
tian era the Pagans of Italy and Gaul were con- 
verted to Christianity, but it just begins to dawn 
upon the mind of the modern inquirer that per- 
haps the Christian was in fact converted, more 
or less, to Paganism; for it is certain that this 
great change worked downward as well as up- 
ward, and it is not at all strange that there are 
many inquirers to-day who look upon Christian- 
ity as at best only an improved form of Paganism. 
It unquestionably has many Pagan features. 

It must be evident enough that the only con- 
version that comes anywhere near being effective, 
is that which begins early in life and is carried on 
both persistently and intelligently for a long time, 
through the medium of teaching and education. 
If we wish to impress others with our ideas, teach- 



CONVICTIONS AND CONVERSIONS 225 

ing is the only medium we can use with any great 
promise of success. We may endeavor to lead the 
learner along our lines, and as we pass on call 
his attention to things that are important here 
and there, but we can do little more. It is useless 
to attempt to convert adults to our new doctrines 
unless they are very susceptible and are quite fav- 
orably inclined to our views in the first place. 

Eight here it may be well to remind the 
reader how apt he is, as we all are, to forget or 
ignore important principles that we know are well 
established; and since we forget or ignore them, 
we fail to apply them at the times and in the man- 
ner we should. It would seem that no sound 
thinker or careful observer would question for a 
moment this doctrine, that we know or think of no 
qualities of objects save those which we ourselves 
assign to them. How other people may regard 
these same objects we really do not know and do 
not care. We have opinions of things, and only 
opinions. Whether we are right or wrong in our 
judgment, or our impressions, is a matter of no 
moment. They are our opinions, and we are fully 
entitled to them. For us they must be true. IF 
men cannot rely upon their ideas and opinions, 
what is there in all this world in which they should 
have confidence ? As we have often intimated be- 
fore, opinions in life are all that the best and ablest of 
men have. If we could change the opinions of 
people readily, we should have an easy time of 
life ; but let it not be forgotten that opinions are the 
last things to change. An opinion is the only reality 
there is in practical life. 



226 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

It may be well to add that opinions can never 
be based on authority, for authority is never a 
source of evidence. The only evidence upon which 
we can rely is our own ideas and impressions. 
Evidence is always internal, not external. What 
we have not come to feel we are not able to believe. 
The testimony of a peasant, so far as his knowl- 
edge and experience goes, is just as good as that of 
a king. Eeally, we can prove nothing for others. 
We can appeal to their reason and common sense, 
but with our best efforts, we can go no farther. 

But if men could be induced to accept and 
approve the doctrines set forth in the two pre- 
ceding paragraphs, what a new and different view 
they would form of the world about them and of 
the ordinary affairs of life! They would bear in 
mind the fact that things are not actually so and 
so; they only appear so to us. How things appear 
to others, is for us a very unimportant matter. We 
call this a cold day — others may not. But have 
we not the right to our opinions at all times ? We 
certainly have, provided we give it merely as 
our opinion and nothing more. The author of this 
work is very positive in every statement he has 
made in the book. He has always been studious 
and observing, and he has been extremely careful 
in every line that he has written; but he does not 
pretend for a moment that he has given to the 
world, in any instance, anything more than one 
man's opinion. 

We are living on opinions constantly, and 
only on opinions. They change like the clouds and 
the weather, at all times. However, there is noth- 



CONVICTIONS AND CONVERSIONS 227 

ing so potent with man as an opinion, so long as 
it lasts. There is never any lack of opinions un- 
der any circumstances, for when one opinion dis- 
appears, there are always a half dozen others 
ready to take its place. A man's convictions, we 
know, dominate his whole life. How shall he 
change his opinions! Nobody knows, he himself 
does not know, how or when it is done. It is not 
knowledge that changes a man's convictions, at 
least not necessarily. A man may have light and 
still not see; he may have knowledge and never 
use it. He might lay it aside, as he would his hat 
or his coat, and forget all about it. That is often 
done. It is often a mere freak or fancy that leads 
people to change their opinions, and with their 
opinions, their course of life. Opinions may last 
for centuries, and they may continue only for a 
day. To-day it is democracy that is in favor, to- 
morrow it is a monarchy, and the day following, 
chaos perhaps. For a time it is the church that 
we adore, and then it is the state, and finally it is 
education that takes precedence. There is abso- 
lutely no way to tell what will rank highest next 
week or next year in the minds of men. 

It must not be forgotten that all our sorrows, 
as well as all our pleasures, come from the opin- 
ions we form of things. If we come to regard 
things as pleasant, they are pleasant, and so in 
every case where we are either pleased or dis- 
pleased. What troubles us always is not things, 
but the opinion that we have formed of things. 
Likes and dislikes are much more changeable than 
the moon. Sometimes we are easily psychologized 



228 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



either one way or the other, and what we cherish 
fondly one day we actually abhor the next. But 
even the mere child ought to be impressed with the 
fact that it does not follow for one moment that 
because some one dislikes a thing, therefore it is 
bad, or the reverse. It is only an opinion or a 
fancy in either case, and a fancy has no value for 
any one except the one in whose mind it arose 
originally. 

It may be remarked, finally, that our belief not 
only induces us to accept certain evidence as fact, 
but it also leads us to accept certain doctrines as 
truth which are really not truth. Through our 
belief, and the conceptions we have formed, we 
come to endorse the doctrine of destiny and neces- 
sity. But it is well to bear in mind, in the begin- 
ning, when we consider this question, that neces- 
'Sity is always a creation of man. There is no 
necessity that controls a man's action except so 
far as he believes there is. When we say a thing 
is necessary, all that we possibly can mean is that 
we believe or think it is necessary. As in every 
other case, it is wholly a matter of opinion. So 
it is in obeying our master. We think we must, 
but it is merely a thought or opinion of ours. If 
we did not allow ourselves to think that masters 
are necessary, we never should have any. So, 
again, we think we must surrender to our antago- 
nist. But if we did not happen to think so, he 
never could conquer us with all his power. Sur- 
render is always a matter of choice and will, and 
it is never because a man must. One man is never 
in the power of another man. He may be killed, 



CONVICTIONS AND CONVERSIONS 229 

but that does not put him in anybody's power. 
He might be carried away like a piece of wood, 
but even that would not compel him to speak or 
even to move his hand. People are never compelled to 
do anything. . We always do at last what we choose 
to do, decide to do, even though our choice may be 
one of two evils. 

It is a fact well known to us all that our con- 
victions and conduct are governed wholly by our 
opinions, and yet how seldom is this principle ap- 
plied in our ordinary work! If we could only 
change our opinions of things how readily and 
how rapidly our daily practices would change! 
Our notions of crimes and punishments have their 
origin wholly in our opinions. Crime itself, as 
we all know, is exclusively a matter of opinion. 
What is a crime with some people is quite inno- 
cent and harmless among others. We read the 
history of the Inquisition and we are shocked at 
the hideous crimes perpetrated, in the early cen- 
turies, in the name of God, by those who really 
believed they were rendering Him worthy service. 
We look upon the judges and executioners of those 
days as monsters. But how much different, or 
how much better, are the courts, the judges, the 
juries and the executioners of the present day? 
We agree fully with Lincoln Steffens that "Our 
whole penal system is wrong. The whole penal 
system is unnecessary, and it has been proven un- 
necessary.' ' Men are governed exclusively by 
their ideas of things, which, unfortunately, are 
almost always wrong. 

It does well to remember that at heart the 



230 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



people of one age, or of one country, do not differ 
very materially from those of any other age or 
any other country. No man was ever so wicked 
that he could not furnish some excuse for his con- 
duct. All people are moved, at least at times, by 
prejudices, by passions, by avarice, and often by 
ignorance and superstition. Those who instituted 
the Inquisition and who for so long a period car- 
ried on its fearful work, were no doubt honored 
men and faithful followers of the Lord. They 
believed in the justice of their cause, as every- 
body does, and they felt the necessity of destroy- 
ing the enemies of religion whenever they were 
encountered. We to-day, the people of this and 
every other country, are actuated by the very 
same spirit when we are called upon to act upon 
questions affecting the safety of the church or 
state. We believe we must continue to do as we 
are doing, or society will decline and the race 
ultimately perish. The Christians of the Middle 
Ages were troubled with similar apprehensions. 
They believed that heretics must be removed, or 
the church would go down and humanity would 
be ruined forever. Besides, they wanted the goods 
of the rich, and they wanted them promptly. 

Wherein do our criminal courts, in the spirit 
that moves them and the course they uniformly 
pursue, differ from the Inquisition? We have 
our criminal trials, with most of the principal 
features of the Inquisition, in order to ascertain 
the truth. That is at least what we pretend ; and 
and the zealous and faithful Christians of the 
Middle Ages said precisely the same thing. They 



CONVICTIONS AND CONVERSIONS 231 

usually wanted some man's money, and to secure 
that they wanted the victim out of the way. But 
they pretended they were searching for the truth, as we 
pretend in every lawsuit that we have at the pres- 
ent day. They of the early centuries named and 
defined their own crimes, and they determined 
the quality and the quantity of evidence required 
to ensure conviction. Why should they not suc- 
ceed in convicting the accused, especially as the 
court was pretty generally on the side of the pros- 
ecution? What difference do we notice in prac- 
tice in our criminal courts of the present day? 
There is really little difference, except that the 
judges are more intelligent, less bigoted and fairer 
every way than the judges of other days. We 
make our own laws and manipulate the evidence 
in the case to suit the fancy of the court, just as 
they did in the days of John Huss. We even resort 
to torture to-day to compel the accused to confess 
the crime and save ourselves the trouble of prov- 
ing his guilt — as they did in other days. 

The criminal court, in this country as in Eng- 
land, is in itself a tremendous power. It is prac- 
tically irresistible, and because of its zeal and per- 
tinacity alone, thousands and thousands are sent 
to prison or the gallows. By way of punishment, 
men are often removed in some effective way be- 
cause others are afraid of them, and often be- 
cause the court happens either to dread or detest 
them. Fear and cupidity, in this world, are the 
source of a large share of our sins. 

And yet it must not be forgotten for a moment 
that it is with crime as it is with everything else, 



232 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

a question of how we look at it — wholly how we look 
at it. We can make any act a crime by calling it 
such, or by believing it to be such. After all, 
people are bad only in so far as we believe them 
so. Sending a man to prison proves nothing. No 
intelligent man imagines that all are there who 
belong there; or that those who are in are a whit 
less innocent than many of those who are out. It 
is only their misfortune to have been detected, that 
is all. 

When will people begin to realize that men 
are not now running about freely in our commu- 
nity for the reason that they are innocent. No, 
no, there are very few such, as we may find when 
the subject comes to be investigated. The first 
question is, what do you call crime, and why do 
you call it so! Much depends on the proper an- 
swer to that question to begin with. Personally, 
I have no love for a bad man, any more than I 
have for a crazy man. But in any and every case, 
I believe in treating a man fairly. He should not 
lose his rights merely because interested people 
happen to call him a criminal. 



THE CORRECT WAY 

Will people ever be able to get into their 
heads the evident fact that nothing is really right 
and nothing is really wrong, nothing is really true 
and nothing is really false? The trouble in this 
case, as in thousands of other cases, lies in the fact 



THE CORRECT WAY 



233 



that we never have a correct view of things in the 
first place. We imbibe an idea or notion early 
in life, or in some way it comes into our posses- 
sion, and the notion continues with us till the end 
of our existence. So we have notions of truth 
and right. We not only believe, but we feel cer- 
tain, that truth and right are everlasting and un- 
changeable things ; and we are confident that they 
are something for every day in the week and for 
every man and woman in the world. But every 
true thinker soon learns that truth and right have 
no such character now, nor have they had at any 
time in the past. Truth and right are merely for 
to-day, and for a limited number of people only. 

Nothing is more ephemeral than these very 
things which we are now considering. They are 
merely what people think and believe, and in fact 
they are only notions and opinions. Usually they 
are thoughts and conceptions accepted and adopt- 
ed by a few people, a few families perhaps, for a 
brief time, while other people or other races con- 
demn them as silly notions or as wicked and abom- 
inable doctrines. Again, it may be repeated that 
the question of what is right and what is true 
depends wholly upon our thoughts or ideas, and 
as these thoughts happen to change, so the char- 
acter of right and truth changes. Is it strange 
that our notions of these things are constantly 
varying, and they are as changeable as the winds 
and the weather ? What men believe to be right 
is right, and what they believe to be wrong is 
wrong, for them. 

To carry this investigation still farther, let 



234 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

us consider this important question. What is the 
correct way of spelling words? What is the cor- 
rect way of pronouncing words, or where is the 
proper location of the accent? Indeed, is there 
any one way that is more correct, in any proper 
sense, than some other way? The spelling of 
words, like everything else that is done by man, 
is not governed by law, hut by fashion and cus- 
tom. In the last instance, the man who writes 
the words is the one who spells them, and he 
spells them, as he does other things, as he feels, 
or as he knows or chooses. What does a man do 
when he goes to the tailor to have a coat made? 
He selects the cloth himself and he dictates the 
style to be followed. He may select the prevailing 
style or he may ignore it entirely. Perhaps he 
does not even know what the fashion really is, 
• and so he goes on and has his coat cut and made 
as he chooses. Just so it is in spelling words. 
There is a fashion in orthography, as there is in 
tailoring and dress-making, but no one is obliged 
to follow the fashion. Any man is at liberty to 
go on and spell his words as he likes, and that 
is what very many people do. So far as correct- 
ness goes, one way is just as near right as another. 
It is just as proper to spell words according to 
sound as it is to spell according to the fashion of 
the day. 

It may not be generally known, but it is a fact, 
that before the time when the printing press came 
into general use, there was no established orthog- 
raphy for words even among literary men. No 
one had the authority to make laws on this sub- 



THE CORRECT WAY 



235 



ject, and so there was no law to be followed. The 
question was simply unsettled. Words originally 
were spelled variously, not only in the same book, 
but in the same chapter and on the same page of 
the work. In one of the older versions of the New 
Testament, our pronoun it was spelled in eight 
different ways: it, itt, yt, ytt, hit, hitt, hyt, hytt. 

What is true of orthography is also true of 
pronunciation and accent. Fashion, custom, fancy, 
is the only law that is recognized. 

The orthography is only the dress or mask 
in which a word is presented. The word itself we 
never see or know; what we do see is simply the 
form or dress in which it appears in print. It is 
with words as it is with other things; we do not 
see them or know them, we see only what is sup- 
posed to represent them. What we call a house 
is merely the idea of a house presented as a com- 
bination of wood, nails and mortar. The idea of 
the house, the real house, existed as a design be- 
fore a single step was taken towards the construc- 
tion of the building. So the idea will remain long 
after the building decays and disappears. Ideas 
are imperishable; they go out of fashion, but they 
are never lost. Ideas live with those who survive 
us, or with those who follow us. 

We also speak of the correct meaning of 
words, as if there were also incorrect meanings. 
All the meanings that any word has are simply 
those which men assign to them. So it is with 
things right and things wrong. Things are right 
that people call right, and what one calls right 



236 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

another calls wrong. Right is what we see in 
things ; and the things that we see, others often fail 
to see. 



A FEW WORDS ON EVOLUTION 

In a work like this, treating as it does chiefly 
on things true and things untrue, or of things 
founded on fact and things founded on fiction, no 
doubt something ought to be said on the subject 
of Evolution. This subject has been under con- 
sideration a long time, and almost everybody who 
has an opinion worth putting into print has 
already hastened to define his position and explain 
his views on this very intricate problem. The pub- 
. lie generally knows very little of the "true in- 
wardness" of the question, but the opinion has 
come to prevail that "evolution" — whatever it 
may be — is a good thing to encourage in both 
schools and families. Indeed, for the uninitiated, 
evolution has come to be regarded as synonymous 
with progress, and many have formed the idea 
that without it, true advancement would be quite 
difficult, if not impossible. But it is well to re- 
member that evolution is only an hypothesis, 
either well-founded or not, and we have had some- 
thing of that kind at intervals from the first days 
of creation down to the present moment. 

Theories among men of learning are very 
common things, and they come in at certain times, 
like "wireless messages," in a steady stream. It 



EVOLUTION 



237 



is very rare that the truth of these theories is ever 
demonstrated. Like comets, they rise above the 
horizon quite unexpectedly, and after a brief 
career they disappear, and that is the last of them. 
It is seldom that they are spoken of afterward. 
The Nebular Hypothesis is one of them, and plenty 
of others may be found, in books, of the same 
kind. They are nothing but dreams, but they 
afford a delightful pastime for those who have 
a lively imagination. There is truth in every- 
thing, and no doubt there is truth in ' * evolution, ' ' 
but the yield cannot be said to be large. It is not 
proposed at this time to discuss the question fully. 
There is no occasion for such an effort, and the 
space required might better be used for other pur- 
poses. A few ideas will be given in reference to 
growth and development, and incidentally to evo- 
lution, and that must suffice for the present. 

This subject of growth, development and met- 
amorphosis is extremely interesting at all times. 
But do we understand the question fully, or even 
partially? That is much to be doubted. In this 
case, as in all similar cases, what we have is an 
idea, an impression, an opinion that we have ac- 
quired in some way, and that is the extent of our 
attainments in this direction. What does a body 
do when it grows? When does identity begin, 
and where does it end? We say a body changes. 
Wherein does it change ? When does a body cease 
to be what it was, and really become something 
different from itself? How could such a thing 
take place at any time or in any manner? When 
A becomes B, or John becomes James, or six 



238 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



changes to seven, what actually becomes of A, 
John and six? They must cease to exist, because 
they have lost their identity. 

If things really cease to exist, they cannot 
change, they cannot become something different 
from themselves. To have six change to seven, or 
John to James, and still remain what they were all 
along, is a dream that exists nowhere save in the 
brain of man. We can think of changes, but we 
can never find them in our daily walks. We can 
talk about an ape developing into a man, but when 
or where did such a thing occur, or how did it come 
about f Almost anybody would be glad to know 
the whole facts of such an interesting case. He 
would be anxious to learn all the particulars. 

We hold this proposition to be self-evident: 
Nothing changes; nothing can change. Everything in 
nature remains what it was at birth. It may 
meet with mishaps, it may be pressed here and 
damaged there, it may be shattered to pieces, and 
even then it does not change its character. We talk 
about change, but when we come to final results, 
we always perceive at last that change is found 
only in fiction. A castle may fall to ruin after a 
lapse of centuries, and still remain the castle that 
it was to the last. The castle and the stones that 
enter into the structure are not one and the same 
thing ; a man may carry the stones away, and still 
not have the castle. Warwick castle would not 
be Warwick castle if its location were changed to 
that of Stirling castle — and certainly not if its 
form were changed. 

It is very generally assumed among our 



EVOLUTION 



239 



learned men that nature has a plan, a model, which 
it follows more or less faithfully in all its works. 
But this is pure imagination; there is no proof to 
sustain such a theory, and there never has been. 
This conception of a plan implies a mental opera- 
tion and it involves a comparison of different ob- 
jects and features. It also involves reflection. 
But nature does not reflect, does not think, does 
not compare. It builds one thing, in one place, 
at one time, and when its work is completed, it 
presents to the world a new individual, a new 
creation in a perfect form, independent of every 
other form and every other individual in creation. 

According to man, the serpent and the ele- 
phant are alike vertebrates belonging to a common 
class or order, and developed by nature according 
to one and the same plan. But judged from na- 
ture's standpoint, no two individuals could be 
wider apart, or separated by a broader chasm, 
than the two classes just named. They have some 
analogies, some points of resemblance, but even 
their analogous features are, strictly speaking, dis- 
similarities. 

The paddles of seals, the pectoral fins of fishes, 
the wings of birds, and the forefeet or fore-arms 
of quadrupeds are in a certain sense homologous. 
And yet where could we find differences more pro- 
nounced than in such comparisons? The similar- 
ities exist in our mind, and not in the objects them- 
selves. To the uninitiated, no similarity is evi- 
dent in these instances. 

So, again, with the covering of animals. The 
fur of bears, the spines of the porcupine, the bris- 



240 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

ties of swine, the feathers and quills of birds, and 
perhaps the scales of fishes, are all analogous, or 
homologous, or at least in many respects similar, 
but in no instance does one take the place of an- 
other. A hog that has bristles never has feathers, 
and though a bird may have feathers on one part 
of the body and down, or bristles or quills, on an- 
other part, it never has one in the place where 
another properly belongs. So fur-bearing ani- 
mals have coats of varying fineness, and about 
the neck and mouth bristles are common. 

The tusks of the boar, like those of the 
elephant, are supposed to be modified teeth. But 
they are not teeth, and they never were. They re- 
semble teeth only in a few particulars, but they 
fill the place, or perform the office, of something 
very different from teeth. The trunk of the ele- 
phant is said to be a development of the nose and 
upper lip, but properly speaking it is not a devel- 
opment at all. It is unique in character and there 
is nothing like it in nature. And so it will be 
found to be with all other so-called developments. 
It is a fact well understood that the ordinary nose 
of one animal never becomes the proboscis of some 
other animal, and to undertake to reason on a 
different basis is simply nonsense. 

Eesemblance never affords any evidence of 
identity between things. The resemblances that 
are found in nature may be interesting, but they 
are hardly anything more. It is interesting to 
observe that throughout the whole vertebrate sub- 
kingdom of animals the vital organs are preserved 
and protected by a case or box formed, as in the 



EVOLUTION 



241 



turtle, by the breast-bone below and the ribs and 
backbone united above. The plans in all cases 
seem very much like, and yet the theory is carried 
out very differently in each instance, as we see in 
the case of the bird, the whale, the ox, the dog. 

Peculiarly interesting is the subject of meta- 
morphosis, but how much real truth is there in the 
doctrine as it is received and understood among 
men? Is it a fact that one thing changes into an- 
other in any of the realms of nature f Is there any 
evidence that anything of that kind is to be seen 
or found anywhere in our experience? Does the 
bud become the blossom; does the tadpole become 
the frog; does the caterpillar become the butter- 
fly; does the acorn become the oak; does the child 
become the man ? There is plenty of room for dis- 
cussion on this point. 

It would seem that metamorphosis does not 
differ essentially from growth. Growth, ordinary 
growth, is itself the most marvelous phenomenon 
that nature affords. What is really more wonder- 
ful than that something that is an acorn to-day 
becomes an oak bearing new acorns later on? Is 
the change real or apparent ? Does the acorn actu- 
ally become the oak? 

The better way would be to view the question 
in one of two lights: The bud, for example, be- 
comes the flower simply because it has been the 
flower all along, and so it will continue to be to 
the end. 

Or, as another view, when the flower appears, 
the bud disappears and is gone forever. In neither 
case is there any transformation of one thing into 



242 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

another. Under the first view there is no death, 
but merely a continued being or becoming. In 
the second view, there is continued death, the old 
dying continually to give place to the new. Which 
view is to be preferred? As intimated, there is 
truth in both views. When we learn what time 
is, and what distance, size and motion are, we 
shall know something about growth, and not be- 
fore. 

In the case of the chick or the child, we have 
no question about continued existence. It is the 
same being, or the same creature, not only from 
birth, but even back of birth, to the time of con- 
ception. There is no question about the grain of 
wheat that is placed in the ground. Why should 
there be any question in the case of the tadpole, 
the caterpillar, or the larvae of insects generally? 
We should not be misled by changes of appear- 
ance. Appearance has nothing to do with reality. 
There are great changes in the form and appear- 
ance of the child, both before and after birth. 
The form of a being at any one time has absolute- 
ly nothing to do with its identity. 

Why should we speak of transformation in 
any such connection ? In the case of both the tad- 
pole and the caterpillar, as in other cases, we 
know it is the same creature throughout its career. 
The frog is the tadpole, only a little older, and so 
it is with the butterfly and the caterpillar. But to 
go back to the other view of the question, is it a 
fact that the child and the old man are both living 
at one and the same time? Are the child and the 
man one being? It would seem to be impossible. 



HISTORY OF LAW 



243 



The child disappeared long since, and it will never 
appear again. What is the difference between 
such a case and death, so far as the child is con- 
cerned? Its reappearance in this world, as we 
know, is impossible. 



THE HISTORY OF LAW 



To understand what law really is, we must 
know its history and be able to trace its develop- 
ment from its beginning down to the present time. 
To understand and appreciate the features of any 
being, we must have seen and known this being 
throughout the whole of its worldly career. A 
man, for example, at five years or five months, is 
not a complete man; nor can the child be consid- 
ered in any sense as a fully developed representa- 
tive of the race. No more is he a complete man 
at forty, or seventy, or even ninety years; he is 
not at any one of these ages a fair representative 
of man in the abstract, or of man in fact. A man 
at forty is merely a man at one particular stage 
of life, and in himself, at that particular period 
of existence, he is far from being a complete man. 

For the people of this country, who are largely 
the descendants of northern European stock, the 
history of law is presented in its best form in the 
history of the German races, especially as that his- 
tory has been known and written for the past two 
thousand years. The whole of northern Europe is 



244 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



by descent largely of German stock. The English 
were originally Saxons and Danes, a branch of 
the Germans, and that element of English char- 
acter was never wholly eliminated. It disap- 
peared, we know, but the process was one of amal- 
gamation. The Normans, or northern French, con- 
quered England nearly a thousand years ago, but 
they were never able to leave any very durable 
impression of their own upon the English charac- 
ter. It was the Normans who became English, 
rather than the reverse. And it may be observed 
that the original French were of a stock closely 
allied to the Germans, their nearest neighbors. 
However, the Eomans held France longer, and 
they subjugated that country, known as Gaul, 
more thoroughly than they were ever able to do 
in England; and it is for that reason that the 
French are to-day a Latin people far more than 
German. It will be remembered that the French 
are uniformly Catholics, as the Spaniards and 
Italians also are, for a similar reason; while the 
German races, with less Latin influence, are uni- 
formly Protestants. 

We need hardly add that the Dutch are pure 
Germans, with some French blood, and the Danes, 
Norwegians and Swedes constitute another branch, 
the Gothic, of the same family. The Finns and 
the Magyars are closely allied with the Turkish 
race, as language clearly shows, these races being 
of Tartar or Asiatic origin. The Eussians, Poles, 
Bohemians, Bulgarians and Servians constitute a 
distinct race by themselves, and are known as 
Slavs, or the Slavic people. Their language in 



HISTORY OF LAW 



245 



many respects resembles that of the Greeks, and 
the people themselves have many Greek features 
in their character and habits. Their religion is 
that of the Greek church, which differs very ma- 
terially from the Latin church. The Russians, es- 
pecially in the more modern city of St. Petersburg, 
have copied freely from the Greek models in their 
architecture, and many of the public buildings of 
that city are emphatically Greek in form and ap- 
pearance to-day. 

In the early centuries of the Christian era, the 
German race occupied substantially the same sec- 
tion of Europe that they hold to-day. They knew 
nothing of Christianity, and yet they could hardly 
be called Pagans. They had a religion of their 
own, and its doctrines, which were implanted in 
the hearts of their youth, controlled their every- 
day life. They believed in more than one God, 
or spirit, even as the Christians do at the present 
time, but they had no such mythology, and not a 
multiplicity of gods and goddesses, as the old 
Greeks and Romans had. They had no written 
laws ; indeed, there was no lawmaking body among 
the old Germans. They had no Bible as we have. 
They had no schools, no education, as it is known 
to us to-day. They had teachings, sayings, prov- 
erbs, poems, precepts, tradition, custom, and these 
took the place of common law as it existed former- 
ly, and as it still exists to-day to a certain extent, 
in England. Bodies met — assemblages of the peo- 
ple they were — at certain times, in the fields or in 
groves, and there the precepts and the doctrines 
of the country were applied, and thus differences 



246 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

between individuals were peacefully settled and 
quickly adjusted. 

The Germans had liberty as we do not have it 
at the present time — even in this boasted democ- 
racy of ours. The people then possessed all the 
rights and the power, and such an organization as 
a state or a government, if it existed at all, was 
only in embryo. Indeed, such an institution as a 
government, outside of and independent of the 
people, as we have it, and as others have it all over 
the civilized world to-day, was something entirely 
unknown to our ancestors, the brave and noble 
Germans. The ordinary free citizen, among the 
Germans, was not limited or circumscribed by any 
rule or obligation known as law. He was a free- 
born man, and as such he had all the power and 
privileges that belonged to a sovereign. He could 
.do, and did do, as he pleased; and if in doing what 
he conceived to be right and proper, he offended 
some one, he was ready at all times to take the con- 
sequences as they came. He asked for no help 
from the state ; indeed, as we have said, among the 
Germans, there was no state, no government, no 
laws, no king, no executioner. No such officer or 
organization or instrument was known or needed. 
The German warrior — and all the free men were 
warriors — was at all times abundantly able to take 
care of himself. But in extreme emergencies, as 
in the case of a feud, his whole family and kindred 
made common cause with him and gave him all 
the assistance and protection that he needed. 

Here it must be observed that among the old 
Germans, as also in England of old, and in every 



HISTORY OF LAW 



247 



civilized land in the world, only a portion of the 
population were free men. The free men were the 
warriors; they bore arms at all times, and were 
prepared for battle when war came. The women 
and children remained at home and performed 
such labor as was required of them. They had no 
rights, they had no duties, beyond their labors. 
But there were real slaves beside — those who had 
been taken as prisoners in war, or who had lost 
their manhood in some other way. Generally, 
there were more slaves in the country than free 
men. This same state of affairs existed in Athens, 
a city that out of 400,000 inhabitants had only 
20,000 free men, with the rights and privileges that 
belong to such men. It might be remarked that 
if the world had never had slaves, it would never 
have had laws, with the punishments, prisons and 
chains that laws always imply. 

It is well known that punishments were in- 
stituted originally for slaves, being applied to 
them exclusively, and so it was with laws gener- 
ally. Laws in the beginning were made for slaves ; 
and in fact that is their character even at the 
present time. The free-born men of ancient times 
knew no laws, and they certainly recognized none. 
To have laws as we have them now — machine- 
made, ready-to-order, fitting everybody and every- 
thing, restraining citizens generally in their most 
humble avocations, is a very recent innovation. It 
is strictly modern. Nothing of the kind was known 
a hundred years ago. Nay, such laws as are now 
ground out by legislatures every year would have 
shocked and astounded people who lived no longer 



248 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

than fifty years ago. Our state people, our office- 
holding contingent, have been so successful with 
their boss-made laws that they are using them 
now for all sorts of schemes, and for every imaginable 
purpose. 

When money can be wrung so easily and so 
expeditiously from the people by simply holding 
an election or by having a law passed or a decree 
published, what wonder is it that we have statutes 
and orders so multifarious and so multitudinous 
as they are? And if people come to have, finally, 
a tyrant for a master, what difference does it 
make, so far as results are concerned, whether he 
happens to be an elective tyrant, or one who has 
gained the mastery by trickery and deceit, or pos- 
sibly by force of arms I The effect that is felt by 
a subdued and oppressed race would be precisely 
the same in either case. In other words, the tyr- 
anny of a democratic form of government is just 
as oppressive as any other form. The best gov- 
ernment after all is the one in which nobody gov- 
erns and nobody is governed. No man should be 
held responsible for his conduct in any case, save 
when he is free to act and can do as he pleases. If 
the government makes a business of constraining 
its citizens, it ought to assume the whole responsi- 
bility for the trouble that ensues. 

THE OLD GERMANS 

The old Germans were an agricultural people, 
but their main occupation, at least in peace times, 
was caring for herds and flocks. They raised crops 



THE OLD GERMANS 



249 



on a small scale, but their farming was primitive 
in character and limited in quantity, compared 
with what it is at the present day. They lived 
mostly in small villages, or on scattered home- 
steads. Cities were not known among the old 
Germans until long after the invasion by the 
Komans. The people were uncorrupted either by 
trade or commerce, being in this respect very much 
in the condition of the Chinese. They knew little 
of strangers. Indeed, they were always shy of 
foreigners, and they were always careful to keep 
them at arms length. No settler was ever admitted 
in their midst as a settler unless he was vouched 
for by some German citizen. Strangers were given 
no rights or privileges, and they could not settle 
down in any place without receiving special per- 
mission. The blunder that we are constantly mak- 
ing — receiving strangers daily without a certifi- 
cate or guarantee of any kind — was not made by 
the Germans nor by any other civilized people in 
those days. Strangers — rascals or enemies fre- 
quently — were everywhere received with due cau- 
tion, when they were received at all. 

And now we come to an important question: 
How came the Germans to cease to be free men 
and to have laws to bind, hamper and oppress 
them, as all civilized nations have at the present 
day ? The transition from freedom to slavery has 
been the same substantially all over the world — 
it is all done insidiously, by slow degrees and sub- 
tle processes. It comes always from the stupidity, indo- 
lence or willfulness of the slaves themselves. Liberty is not 
taken away — such a thing is impossible. It is given 



25 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



away — always given away! a little to-day and 
more to-morrow, yielding in tins place now and 
in that place afterward, till the birthright is en- 
tirely lost and all has disappeared! That is how 
such a result has arisen, and how it always will 
arise. We are doing the same thing and follow- 
ing the same trend in America to-day. We are 
making rapid strides toward despotism on one 
side and slavery on the other, and we are getting 
visibly nearer and nearer our destination every 
day. By and by we shall find that everything is 
gone, and soon there will be only one alternative 
left — Eevolution! That always follows — it surely 
comes at last. We can do nothing, it seems finally, 
without war and bloodshed. Strange, is it not! 
What real remedy is there ever to be found in 
bloodshed? New masters is all that we obtain. 

The Germans, in the course of time, began to 
do as we are doing. They developed trade, money- 
lending and commerce. They eventually became 
rich, and naturally enough, they wanted to become 
richer. They had bosses and employees. They 
admitted strangers and extended business. They 
had clients and patrons, and from these they drew 
constantly increasing revenues. They had learned 
the interesting trick of making money by profits 
and per cents. In their political development, they 
were at first contented with dukes or leaders, but 
later on they found that kings were more desir- 
able. As their wealth increased, their cities and 
towns grew larger and more populous. To defend 
their wealth, an army was needed, and this im- 
plies always an enormous annual expenditure. 



THE OLD GERMANS 



251 



Of course with such a state of things as we 
have just set forth, the Germans found that laws 
and ordinances were necessary, for without laws 
such institutions as we have mentioned could not 
be maintained. When laws were called for, they 
were readily obtained. Laws always come easy 
— they are such simple, harmless things! How- 
ever, when laws come, they always stay, and they 
bring other laws with them when they arrive. 
Indeed, there is no end to law-making, when the 
business once fairly opens. In Germany, the cities 
made laws, the barons or lords made laws, the 
societies or guilds made laws, the church or the 
bishop made laws, and the king and his agents 
made laws. The Germans now, like other peoples, 
are burdened with so many laws and decrees that 
they have no rights remaining, and no things 
which they can properly call their own. The free- 
born Germans of old, noble people as they were, 
have long since disappeared, and a race of slaves 
are to-day toiling in their stead. That is what has 
come from the making of many laws. Laws are 
never able to make things right. They really have 
nothing to do with right, and those who shape 
them have no concern about either the rights or the 
wrongs of mankind. Laws are merely contriv- 
ances with which men — often very bad men — are 
able to accomplish their iniquitous designs. What 
follows laws in all cases is taxes and tribute. In- 
deed, it is to ensure the taxes and tribute, chiefly, 
that laws are made in the first place. 

But without dwelling farther upon the laws 
and government of the Germans of the present 



252 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

time, let us not forget that for long centuries their 
ancestors set an example that it would have been 
well for the remaining races of Europe to have fol- 
lowed. Eome gave to the world law, but liberty 
in the proper sense of the term is something that 
its citizens never received from those who con- 
trolled the destinies of that proud capital. Athens 
talked freely and loudly of liberty, but it was lib- 
erty in name only, liberty of the city, and not of 
the citizen. It was reserved for the Germans of 
the earlier centuries to accord liberty to all free 
men, without regard to rank, property, or party. 
History gives us no record of any progressive peo- 
ple that ever gave liberty for any length of time 
to the individual as was done by the Germans of 
olden times. 



A LESSON FROM HISTORY 



Before Eome was founded, seven hundred and 
fifty years before Christ, there were no cities and 
large towns in Europe, except possibly a few on 
the shores of the Mediterranean. There were clan 
villages, or small towns, in the mountain districts 
of Italy, as there were in other countries of Eur- 
ope, farther north, but they were all small estab- 
lishments, compared with Eome or with cities of 
the present day. The name given by the Latins 
to a city was urbs, a form of the word orbis, an orb 
or circle — so called because the town was sur- 



A HISTORY LESSON 



253 



rounded by a circular wall, for protection against 
enemies. A small town was called oppidum, from 
opus, a work. It was really a fortified place, such 
as all towns were in the Middle Ages, and even at 
an earlier date. In fact a city or town in its origin 
was simply a fortress. The people selected some 
elevated or inaccessible spot, and they proceeded 
to erect a strong wall as an enclosure. In times 
of peace and when no danger was apprehended, 
the people attended to their labors on the outside, 
cultivating their fields, caring for their flocks, or 
gathering in their harvest. When the enemy 
threatened them, they quickly ran to the city, or 
castle, and took refuge within the fortifications. 
Such, we repeat, was the original purpose of every 
old city or town in Europe. Inside the walls, the 
most conspicuous object and most important struc- 
ture was always the church or temple. The peo- 
ple of those days really believed in the power of 
God, or the gods, and they felt that it would be 
impossible to get along without the daily assist- 
ance of these beings. Of course there were many 
other buildings inside the walls besides the church. 
All the stores and all valuable property that was 
movable were brought in as a measure of security. 

Eome at first, like all the neighboring towns 
and tribes, was isolated and independent. It had 
gods of its own, as its neighbors had, and for a 
time it was peaceful and contented. There was 
plenty of its own work to be done so long as the 
city felt inclined to give it the attention that was 
due. But eventually it became strong, and with 
strength, as often happens in such cases, pride and 



254 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

ambition began to develop. Instead of following 
the straight and narrow way as other towns had 
previously done, Rome seems to have preferred 
the highwayman's career for its model, and this 
route it pursued boldly and persistently to the 
end. Let us see the results that followed the 
career thus chosen, which will appear some time 
later on. 

The Greeks and Romans were neighboring 
peoples, only a comparatively narrow strip of 
water, a day's journey by sea, separating the two 
countries. Greece was older than Rome and had 
made considerable progress, in arts, science and 
culture, before Rome had even become known. 
The policy of Greece was always different from 
that pursued in later times by Rome. Greece was 
small in extent; the country was rocky, the soil 
unproductive, and the revenues at the end of the 
year were by no means considerable. It might 
have made conquests and founded an empire, but 
such never was its settled ambition^ except in the 
case of the Macedonians. But Rome, as we have 
intimated already, had a different policy in view 
and it took a different direction at the outset of 
its career. This city began with a comparatively 
free government at home, a sort of democracy in 
which the rights of the people were fully recog- 
nized. However, Rome always had a strong gov- 
ernment, the result of thorough organization and 
complete centralization of power. The people had 
a voice in public affairs, but they had little be- 
yond a voice. The power was always vested in 
the head, wherever that might be, and the masses 



A HISTORY LESSON 



255 



uniformly found it either necessary or prudent 
to submit. The Romans believed in gods and re- 
ligion, and that always implies ready submission 
to the constituted authorities — sometimes to the 
priest, sometimes to the commander of armies, 
and sometimes to the king. 

Eome began its conquests quite early in its 
history. It gained strength with wonderful rapid- 
ity; its people were always brave, persistent and 
aggressive, and no matter what resistance was 
encountered, it was either promptly removed or 
speedily overcome. Rome always possessed strong 
and able men at the head of her affairs, and these 
men were very careful to keep the reins of gov- 
ernment well in hand. They were strong men who 
led Rome on from small beginnings at first to great 
conquests in the end. It was strong men that 
gave to Rome its wonderful history. Strong men 
founded the empire; they urged Rome onward 
and upward to the very acme of its greatness. 
But beyond that, it must be remembered, there 
came ruin and overthrow at last. 

The Romans found little time to devote to 
either art, literature, philosophy or science. What 
Rome needed in these departments was mostly 
bought, borrowed or copied, with some slight 
changes, of course — generally from Greece, but 
often from the East. The Romans had no great 
interest in studies of any kind; their minds were 
centered upon conquest, with government, law and 
politics following naturally in its train. In these 
departments, and in these alone, Rome for cen- 
turies stood pre-eminent. In her conquests, she 



256 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

began with the peoples of Italy — the Etruscans, 
the Sabines, the Samnites. These races, after long 
and sanguinary conflicts, were at last brought un- 
der complete subjugation, and henceforth Eome 
and Italy had a common destiny. The conquest of 
Greece and Macedonia followed in due time; Asia 
Minor, Egypt and Carthage also ; and finally Spain 
and Gaul. These conquests had all been accom- 
plished shortly before the birth of Christ — perhaps 
fifty or a hundred years before. And what was 
there left to conquer ? Of the civilized world, prac- 
tically nothing! Eome was complete master at 
last — and what followed? We shall soon see. 

The chief study and effort of Eome from the 
beginning onward was in the direction of central- 
ization, and the means and energies of the city 
were constantly devoted to that one object, to the 
neglect and exclusion of all others. This much 
desired concentration of power was finally effect- 
ed, but at what a fearful cost, with what a prodi- 
gality of expenditure, and withal with what a 
frightful sacrifice of human life! Victories bring 
power, momentary power, but in their wake, a host 
of evils and the severest afflictions are sure to fol- 
low. Napoleon gained victory after victory; he 
even invaded Eussia and entered the proud cap- 
ital of that great country, followed as he was by 
the remnant of his grand army of five hundred 
thousand men. But conqueror as he seemed, his 
cause was already lost. His very victories had 
brought him nothing but ruin at last, as victories 
uniformly do in similar cases. His armies had 
been wasted and his resources were exhausted. 



A HISTORY LESSON 



257 



France herself saw nothing ahead but danger of 
defeat, and it was only a short time comparative- 
ly ere she found herself helpless in the hands of 
her enemies. Just so Eome won the battle of 
Zama, and Carthage lay prostrate under the heel 
of the conqueror. But the rejoicings of victorious 
Eome were of short duration, and doubt and de- 
spair soon followed. The battle of Zama proved 
to be the last grand effort that Rome was ever 
able to make, and from that time forward her de- 
cline was speedy and inevitable. As a city and a 
government her disease was fatal, and though she 
lingered long in helplessness and decay, there was 
no question among observing men about the cer- 
tainty of her ultimate collapse and final overthrow. 
For Rome as a power among nations, her sun had 
set forever. 

While Rome was fighting her enemies abroad, 
— in Spain, in Carthage, in Gaul, in Greece, in 
Egypt, in Asia Minor — she was neglecting and dis- 
regarding her enemies at home. Agriculture, 
which had long been the chief support of this 
famous city, was now almost wholly abandoned 
by the original farmers and settlers, because they 
had come to look upon farm labor as low and vul- 
gar, and they considered a city life far more de- 
sirable. What little work was performed in the 
country was done by a degraded and indolent 
order of people who knew little about the business 
before them and who cared less. Farm buildings 
fell into everlasting decay, and even the fertile 
fields were not cultivated. Large sections of land 
were bought by the rich at a trifling price; and 



258 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

these were at once converted into ranches for cat- 
tle, sheep and swine, a form of expenditure that 
brought to the investor steady returns, at large 
per cents on the money invested, and with very 
little trouble or labor on his part. 

Corruption and venality prevailed every- 
where, and the sturdy Roman character of old 
had long since disappeared, being replaced as it 
was by something supposed to be more cultured 
and more refined, but, as it proved, really by some- 
thing more debased and corruptible. The rich 
took advantage of the opportunities offered to 
them by the times and the occasion, and thus they 
became daily richer and richer; while the poorer 
classes, left helpless and without resources, sank 
lower and lower in the depths of poverty and dis- 
tress with every change that appeared in the gov- 
ernment. Moreover, why should the masses labor, 
when they were fed freely at the public tables, 
and they had nothing to do but to present them- 
selves and partake of what was set before them, 
when meal time arrived? 

The conquered East sent her full quota of 
luxuries, introducing her foul arts and thus adding 
her share toward helping along the wave of cor- 
ruption and immorality that was sweeping over 
the empire. Then, unwittingly no doubt, the slave 
population contributed greatly toward the final 
downfall of the Roman people. Slavery is at all 
times vicious in character and debilitating in its 
influences ; and in this case Rome certainly proved 
to be no exception to the rule. Slaves had become 
more numerous than free men, and to labor at any 



CIVILIZATION 



259 



employment was considered beneath the dignity 
of any free-born man or woman. The agencies 
that are sure at last to bring ruin npon any civil- 
ized country are these: Religion, Centralized 
Power, Increasing Wealth, Thirst for Conquest, 
and Slavery — Slavery, no doubt, more than all 
the other agencies combined. 

What do the American people see in this pic- 
ture that reminds them of their own country? 
Rome lasted, in one form or other, for many hun- 
dred years. Will our American government, or- 
ganized as it is, endure so long, and will our peo- 
ple maintain their unity and strength for any such 
length of time as was noticed in the case of Rome I 
Most assuredly they will not. With our railroads and 
steamships at command, and with gunpowder, 
dynamite, electricity and the press always ready 
to do our bidding, civilization now hastens for- 
ward in its course at a much more rapid pace 
than was ever witnessed in the days of ancient 
Rome. 



THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION 

So far as history gives us any information, all 
the accurate and specific knowledge of civilization 
that we possess is confined to that form or de- 
velopment which first manifested itself on or near 
the shores of the Mediterranean. There was a 
civilization before that, and perhaps better than 
that, which had its origin and center in India, or 



2^0 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

perhaps in China. It had a remarkable influence 
upon the history of the world, but as a matter of 
record we know but little of its growth and char- 
acter. We have some evidence, but we lack many 
documents to enable us to make a complete and 
satisfactory history of this eastern philosophy. 
What concerns us chiefly now is modern civiliza- 
tion, and to that we shall confine our attention. 

The history of any country, like the history of 
every individual, depends chiefly upon its location 
and surroundings. If any particular people, no 
matter who they were or whence they came, had 
settled down in a country situated as Eussia is, 
some centuries ago, they would have had, no 
doubt, a history and a lack of development similar 
in all respects to that of the Eussians with whom 
we are acquainted to-day. No people dwelling in- 
land can have the expansion and make that prog- 
ress which is uniformly made by a maritime peo- 
ple. All peoples advance according to what they 
learn, and they learn solely through those with 
whom they come in direct contact, or to whom 
they happen to be contiguous. A nation without 
neighbors, without contact, without friction, with- 
out emulation, or even without conflict at times, 
has never been known to make any material ad- 
vancement in science, art or morals. If Spain, 
Italy and Greece had not been peninsulas, as India 
is, how could they have made that progress and 
had that history that has rendered them famous? 

To make progress possible in civilization, 
there must be quick, easy and regular means of 
communication between neighboring peoples. This 



CIVILIZATION 



261 



is what the Mediterranean Sea afforded to Greece, 
and thus her development in civilization was ren- 
dered possible. Even the interior of Spain was 
far behind the coast regions of that country, and 
the same was true of Italy and Greece. On the sea- 
shore we uniformly find cultivated and progressive 
races, while those in the interior upland or moun- 
tain districts are always non-progressive, and in 
a measure lacking in culture and refinement. 

If we go back in history, we shall find that 
India taught Persia, and perhaps Thibet and 
China. Persia again carried its knowledge and 
acquirements to the fertile valley lying between 
the Euphrates and the Tigris, and Babylon and 
Nineveh arose. These great cities extended their 
influence to Syria and the shores of the eastern 
Mediterranean. Syria again made conquests in 
Egypt; hordes came also from Arabia, and the 
land of the Pharaohs was overwhelmed. Then a 
new civilization began, and Egypt became the 
acknowledged center both of science and religion, 
as well as of philosophy. In this country, Greece 
learned her first lessons, and here she received 
her inspiration. 

In Greece there now began a different civili- 
zation, and later on Borne arose. Finally, gun- 
powder was discovered and steam began to come 
into general use. The printing press was discov- 
ered and people began to read and think who had 
never read or thought before. Eailroads were 
eventually built and inland towns had means of 
communication given them that before had been 
confined to seaport towns. Northern Europe, and 



26 2 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

even northern Asia, that had been lost in dark- 
ness np to this period, now began to awaken and 
advance, and thns, like the rising sun, new worlds 
began to appear. 



DEATH 



Death is a little thing, or it would be if we 
did not magnify it in our minds and transform it 
at last into a dreadful spectre. Deaths occur daily, 
the young and the old, the great and the obscure, 
all alike die in their time, and yet the world goes v 
on very much as usual. Numbers make no differ- 
ence, quality or standing makes no difference with 
results in this case. And really what difference 
does it make with the survivors when it is that 
people die, or who it is or how many ? The world 
always goes on precisely as if nothing had hap- 
pened. Nothing really has been lost. The ocean 
may be shaken up, and for a time it may assume 
frightful shapes — but after all it remains the same 
old ocean still. The sun comes out finally, the 
clouds disappear, and everything goes on again 
peacefully and quietly as it did the day before. 

There is no evidence that anything is actually 
lost, or can be lost, through death in this world. 
Things are not really lost to us, because they never 
were ours. No man can lose what he never owned. 
We may not have the dollar that we had, but 
some one else has it. What is a loss for one is 



DEATH 



263 



always a gain for others; and very frequently we 
ascertain that what appeared to us at first to be a 
misfortune proved at last to be a gain. 

From another standpoint, the world never 
actually dispenses with us. Because we do not 
exist in our original form, it does not by any 
means follow that we do not exist in some other 
form. We may change our form, our time, our 
place, and yet it does not follow that we have been 
annihilated. The thought of annihilation is ab- 
horrent to man, and it is impossible. We may 
disappear, and still remain. The whole source of 
error in this case lies -in the fact that we confound 
the body with the man himself. We might as well 
confound him with his picture, his shadow, or 
even with his coat or hat. Many things have 
many forms. Words have many forms, many ap- 
plications; living beings have many forms, many 
relations. Why not man also? Nature busies it- 
self with things, while man concerns himself only 
with the forms and appearance of things. Nature 
seems to pay but slight regard to the forms of 
things. 



CONCLUSION 



There is very little to say in conclusion, save 
that the author has done his work, and done it 
faithfully and conscientiously. The book is the 
result of much study and reflection, and is the 
product, in the aggregate, of a large amount of 
labor. It is not simply what is found in the book 
that is to be considered, but the persistent study, 
the inquiry and effort that enables a writer in all 
cases to distinguish fact from fiction. To know, 
a man must first learn; a man's acquirements are 
measured largely by what he has learned before 
he reads. People who come in from the farms and 
business places are not presumed to understand 
a subject quite as well as one who has devoted a 
life-time to its study. 

It is hardly necessary to add that this work is 
in the fullest sense original — as much so at least 
as productions are usually. It has always been 
the writer's aim to print and publish simply his 
own thoughts, leaving others to do the same thing 
with their thoughts when ready for the press. 
There are indeed many valuable books that he has 
read, more or less fully. He has found in them de- 



CONCLUSION 



265 



sirable information and welcome suggestions; they 
have indicated to him the progress and the status 
of the science in which he is interested. Above all, 
he has often felt himself strengthened and en- 
couraged by finding his own views accepted and 
defended by eminent writers who had written 
before him and touched upon the same subjects. 
But new thoughts were never sought by him in 
the books of other men — if for no other reason, 
for this, that no one can understand and appre- 
ciate the thoughts of another man until they have 
become his own. 

The writer cannot say that he sees any en- 
couragement for the publication of such a work 
as this, at this time, in this country. It takes 
something more than a sound and well-written 
work to make a popular and acceptable book 
among the people. The success of a book depends 
fully as much upon the knowledge, feelings and 
temperament of the people as it does upon the 
merits of the work itself. It all depends at last 
upon what the people are thinking about, and 
what they are delighted to think about. The 
writer very well knows that the masses of this 
country are not seriously concerned, nor even 
greatly interested, in such studies, of a social and 
political character, as have engaged his attention 
for over fifty years. 



266 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

The time lias not yet come for any one to be 
able to arouse the people, or to give to their 
thoughts a new and more rational direction. Will 
it ever come? It is very hard to instruct people 
who have no questions to ask, especially on such 
subjects as these. How many valuable books, on 
topics of this character, have been written and 
published in this country, within the last twenty- 
five years, by authors whose names to-day are not 
even known or mentioned! It is not the writer's 
fault, but the fault of the people, in most instances. 

But why complain? Has not the fate of new 
thought always been such as we have just noticed ? 
Has it not always been the people's practice to 
stone their prophets? They do not themselves 
care to think and study, and when they get a new 
idea, outside of their ordinary avocations, they 
obtain it usually from those self-sacrificing indi- 
viduals who make a business of studying impor- 
tant questions. A few men have always done the 
thinking for the world, and doubtless a few men 
will continue to do that work for some time to 
come. But what office could be more thankless 
than this? A barber or a tinker — a good barber 
or a good tinker — always fares better than a man 
who has nothing to offer the public but "new 
ideas. ' ' Barbers and tinkers can serve the public, 
they can furnish something that is really wanted. 
But, in this country, is there any demand for new 



CONCLUSION 



267 



ideas, especially on social, scientific and political 
topics? Who cares about truth just now, when 
fiction is so much more entertaining and answers 
its purpose in a manner which is so much more 
satisfactory! Who has time or inclination to de- 
vote to subjects so uninteresting as these? Is 
there anybody who is fond of study, either as a 
task or a pastime? 

There is another obstacle that authors are 
sure to encounter in their journey through life — 
a total lack of sympathy and friendship among 
such men as a body. It is perhaps the only craft 
in which no bond of union exists between its mem- 
bers — no cohesion, no affinity of any kind. Eead 
the lives of authors who follow writing as a busi- 
ness, and observe their fate. And yet it must be 
remembered that authors, sometimes hostile and 
often indifferent, have very much to do with the 
making of reputations for other authors. Pub- 
lishers never quote what John Doe says of their 
books, no matter how wise he may be nor how 
great his attainments. They prefer to copy the 
recommendations of some noted writer, some emi- 
nent statesman or some popular journalist, though 
he may know little or nothing of the subject in 
question. This is a sample of the deference that 
we are accustomed to pay to authority. 

In America, writing books, like every other 
occupation, is strikingly a business matter. Very 



268 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

few devote themselves to study for the satisfac- 
tion that it affords, and still smaller is the number 
of those who study for diversion. Profound think- 
ing is rare, probably on account of its exhausting 
effect upon the mind. Indeed, there does not seem 
to be any great claim for eminence in literature 
anywhere in this country just now. We may do 
better later on. There is plenty of talent, but it is 
rarely applied in this direction. Our reputation 
abroad is not very flattering, but possibly we do 
not get all the credit that we deserve. 

Even in Germany, the home of profound 
thought, matters seem to have been rather quiet 
for a long time, especially in the domain of meta- 
physics. Kant seems to have exhausted the sub- 
ject of philosophy, in the early part of the nine- 
teenth century, and since then very little appears 
to have been done, in that direction, beyond copy- 
ing and commenting upon the works of that re- 
markable author. Very few, comparatively, were 
able to read his works understandingly; and even 
translations did not seem to improve matters ma- 
terially. However, the people believed in him 
chiefly because of the abstruseness and incompre- 
hensibleness of what he wrote. They believe in 
this philosopher still, and thus it is that he is left 
in possession of the field. There never has been a 
case quite like it, either before his day or since. 
But it may be observed that belief comes not only 



CONCLUSION 



269 



from knowledge but also from the want of it. It 
is a well known fact that men are found to put 
most trust in agencies with which they have little 
or no acquaintance. In the words of Buckle, "We 
wonder because we are ignorant, and we fear be- 
cause we are weak." 

Just now, it may be added, the works of Prof. 
Eudolph Eucken, of the University of Jena, an 
author noted alike for his learning and genius, are 
attracting world-wide attention. He has a lively 
and perspicuous style, and his works are printed 
in large type, on excellent paper. How far the 
literary world can be aroused by the writings of 
any author, on questions of philosophy, at this 
time, is something that remains to be seen. Prof. 
Eucken 's distinguished efforts are certainly in the 
right direction. In 1908 this gentleman was hon- 
ored with the Nobel prize in Literature. 

No doubt, it may be added finally, there is 
plenty of room to question whether the writer of 
this work has taken the wrong view or the right 
view of the subjects that he has chosen for con- 
sideration. But that is wholly a matter of opinion. 
Like all other questions that come up for decis- 
ion, the verdict depends very much upon what 
the court happens to think and how it feels. How- 
ever, there can be no doubt about this fact, that 
all the questions presented in this book are great 
questions. What is true, or what is truth, is a 



270 NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 

great question; the questions of God, worship, 
sacrifice, are all great questions ; so is education a 
great question, and marriage, love, pity, giving, 
charity are great questions. Government presents 
a great question, and law, evidence, courts, pun- 
ishment, taxes, protection, are all matters of the 
highest concern to mankind. To decide whether 
this is a good world or a bad world that we live 
in, is to all a matter of the utmost importance. 
It is a great question for us to consider whether 
we do or do not always see things as they are. Or 
is it a fact that we have merely opinions of things 
in all cases? 

Nothing is so important to man as the belief 
that he forms; and whether he has true concep- 
tions or false conceptions of things, is a question 
which must affect seriously his whole earthly 
career. It was Malebranche, a French philoso- 
pher, who said this: "Error is the cause of the misery 
of men; it is this bad principle that has brought evil into 
the world." He lived and wrote two hundred and 
fifty years ago, and still there are few in this 
country who know anything about his teachings. 
Even those who are acquainted with his writings 
have found little in his doctrines to interest them. 

It is evident enough that people are slow to 
accept what they read, especially if the teachings 
happen to be sound and the statements reliable. 
Ordinarily, what appears to be most absurd and 



CONCLUSION 



271 



most mysterious is accepted most readily. Popu- 
larity in books, like popularity in other depart- 
ments, is largely a manufactured article. Some- 
thing must be done to interest the public; above 
all, there must be liberal and persistent advertis- 
ing. Books are wares, just like other wares. Gen- 
erally, people buy them because others buy them, 
and that is the reason why so few books are read. 
But to many of the old school, advertising books 
is quite distasteful. It reminds one of a practice 
common enough in some countries, of hiring 
parties to sing the praises of the deceased and 
weep over his departure. 



Those who wish to pursue the inquiries of 
this work farther might consult Life without a Master, 
The New Dispensation, and Living Thoughts. These 
volumes, with the present, contain the author's 
Views of Life, or his Philosophy of Living, given 
in all cases truthfully and without mental reserva- 
tion. 

J. WILSON. 

Newark, N. Y. 



INDEX 



Achievements, credit not 

due 166 

Animals, know those 

only of their class. ... 109 
— their covering and fea- 
tures 239 

Appearances, do we see 

things as they are. ... 65 
— all seeing mere infer- 
ence 6 5 

— vs. Reality, are things 

what they seem? 9 3 

— ideas of what we see 

imperfect 102 

— often deceptive 103 

— this impresses us, and 

not the reality 145 

Art, what is it? 174 

— in all the affairs of life 175 

— of Egyptians 176 

— everything made by 

man, a piece of 181 

Artists, present only 

what is in their minds 178 
Astronomy, its mistakes 15 

Aurora Borealis 8 

Authority, not a basis of 

opinion 226 

Authors, lack of affinity. 267 

Battle of Life 211 

Beard, Dr., article on 

evidence 220 

Belief, nothing so im- 
portant to a man 270 

Bible Teachings 31 

Bible, an obstacle in life 
15, 212 



Books, their success not 

a measure of value. . . 265 
— writing of, in America, 

a business matter .... 267 
Business Code. On what 

is morals based? 183 

— Legal morals differ 

from business morals. 18 5 

Cause and effect, false 
notions on the question 156 

Change life, what will.. 210 

Changes, we can only 
think of them 238 

Changing, everything, in 
form and appearance. 101 

Character, not learned 
by observation 155 

Charity, its dangers .... 35 

Chick and child, contin- 
ued existence 2 42 

City, an urbs, or orb. ... 252 

Civilization, multiplies 
wants 140 

— its progress and source 260 

— depends on surround- 
ings 261 

— new, developed by 
Egypt 261 

Classes, we continually 
classify 144 

Color, changes constantly 158 

— ancients had no such 
idea of as we 16 

Commercial Age, we live 
in 16 

Compulsion, an error, we 
are never compelled. . 229 



274 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



Concern, for us, only 
about what we think. 146 

Conclusion 264 

Converts, not fond of 
making 3 

Convictions and Conver- 
sions 222 

Correct views, these are 
most important 210 

Correct way 232 

Credit, given to those 
not deserving 170 

Crime, is how we look at 
it 232 

Criminal courts, like the 
Inquisition 230 

Death, a little thing. ... 262 

Democracy, as oppressive 
as any form 248 

Difference, in things, nev- 
er radical 229 

Distance, does not affect 
character 115 

Dreams, real in their 
way 100 

Eating and munching, 

main business of life. . 19 8 
Education, its errors and 

weak points 120 

— we unlearn what we 

learned in school .... 121 
— what does it do for 

man? 123 

— in England 129 

— with the ancients not 

as with us 12 4 

— what Harold Gorst said 12 5 

— its great expense 126 

— the problem, what to 

do with learning 127 

— the ancients did better 

than we 127 

— its status in America. . 128 
Elevation, some love to 

be well up 173 

Emulation, why emu- 
late? 173 

Errors in Estimates .... 164 
Error, cause of misery. . 2 70 
Errors of Grammar .... 5 
— in time 150 



Eucken, Prof., remarks 
on History, Nobel Prize 

91, 269 

Evidence 213 

— slight proof accepted. 215 

— none indubitable 216 

— always internal 22 6 

— it establishes nothing. 218 
Evolution, hypothesis 

only 2 36 

Exist, do we? 9 5 

— many things do, and 
yet they do not affect 
the senses 99 

Fame, an uncertain pos- 
session 171 

— does not last 172 

Feeling, people have too 

much 212 

Fortunate, who is, and 

who is not? 207 

Friendship, its cost 3 3 

Future, we may and 

should know it 192 

Gap, how broad between 
those who write and 
those who read. . . 78, 79 

German stock 244 

Germans, old, had no 
written laws, no law- 
makers 245 

— had Liberty, as we do 
not 246 

— all free men, warriors 247 

— how they came to lose 
freedom 249 

— full share of burdens 
finally 251 

— gave liberty to all free 
men 252 

Giving, its dark side... 33 

— the motive . . . .' 3 4 

Gods, represented at first 
by block of wood or 
stone 178 

God, a new one wanted 
now 16 

— no ~ wrathful, and no 
place for one 209 

Gods, of Romans, thou- 
sands of them 17 

Good, what is 208 



INDEX 



275 



Government, tryranny of 

democracy 248 

— necessity for, a delu- 
sion 199 

Governmental system, 

founded on parasites. . 198 

Grammar, Kirkham's . . 5 

— Murray's 5 

— language of 6 

Great questions 270 

Greatness, never helps 

when most needed. . . . 167 

— success no evidence of 167 

Greece, older than Rome 253 
Greeks, similar in career 

to Egyptians 177 

Groups, have no charac- 
ter, do not exist 106 

Growth, evolution 237 

Happiness, studied too 

much 195 

— exists in our mind. ... 195 
Hear, and think we hear, 

one and same 9 8 

Heroes, made by history 74 
Historians, all ordinary 

men 68 

History, what is it?.... 67 

— lesson from 252 

— as in painting, objects 
shown differently by 

different artists 71 

— founded on truth 73 

— phases of 81 

— has no literal truth. . . 82 
— should have less of ad- 
oration 7 5 

— what its attractions . . . 86 

— what its purpose 86 

— a tribunal for adjudi- 
cation 87 

— no appeal from 87 

— is news history? 8 8 

— bound to the past . ... 90 

— the best is fiction 70 

Honesty, a mere matter 

of reputation 146 

Ideas, not for traffic or 
transfer 222 

— new, thankless office to 
furnish 266 



Identity, resemblance no 

proof of 240 

Illusion and Delusion... 142 

— belief not to be trusted 142 

— what is it? 146 

— constantly subject to . . 147 

— it is real 97 

Impression, no writer 

knows what he makes 4 

— arises from conclusions 106 
Individuals, every animal 

and plant a bundle of 197 

Inheritance 29 

— to whom it goes 3 

Interpretation, everything 

must be interpreted. . . 79 
— greatest error in word 

interpretation 76 

— people interpret dif- 
ferently 78 

Kant, and his philosophy 268 
Keller, Helen, remarka- 
ble personality 2 00 

— does not complain. ... 202 

— uses pure English.... 203 

— quite philosophic .... 203 
Kills, the Dr. does, while 

trying to cure . . 209 

Kings, less faith in 21 

Knowledge, how acquired 64 

Labor Topic 27 

Language, indefinite, in- 
accurate 205 

— seen best in codes. ... 80 

— its office 179 

Law, a recent innovation 2 47 
Laws, come easy, but 

they bring evils 251 

Liberty, sun of 2 2 

Lies, chief stock in trade 16 4 

Life, greatest of studies 19 4 

— in a new phase 200 

— a new direction in. . . . 208 

Light and color 158 

Living, like a sensible 

man, highest ambition 194 

Living, implies labor ... 28 

Love and friendship.... 32 

Man, none complete .... 243 
Mahomet and his Refor- 
mation 213 



276 



NEW VIEWS ON OLD SUBJECTS 



Maps, do not give size or 
distance, relation only 6 5 

Marriage, question con- 
sidered 23 

— readjustment needed. . 26 

— to marry or not 2 5 

— customs in different 
countries 26 

Matter, is not a thing. . . 110 

Meaning, correct of 
words 235 

Measuring, what it sig- 
nifies 179 

Memory, through it we 
see things 100 

Metamorphosis 241 

Misapprehension, people 
never fully understand 
each other 205 

— teaching not accepted 
because not understood 206 

Mistakes, of the Wise.. 149 

— made from wrong in- 
ference mostly 162 

Morality, its basis, mere- 
ly what men think. ... 131 

Multitude, does the work, 
and Lord's anointed 
reaps harvest 2 05 

Nature, has no plan 211, 2 39 

Necessary, what is ..... 228 

Nietzsche, his fame .... 171 
Nothing so important to 

man as his belief 2 70 

Nudity 132 

Observing, of things, not 
reliable . 114 

Occurrence, witnessing 
one like looking at a 
picture 104 

Opinions, often formed 
without knowledge . . . 200 

— one man's 226 

— from them sorrows 
come 227 

— change these, change 
life 229 

Orthography, correct way 234 



Painting, does one thing 
at a time, as in history 
83, 84 



Parasites, government 



founded on 19 8 

— develop where least 

expected 199 

Parsing, of other days. . 5 

Parts, of things, not to 
be found in nature . . . 119 

Past, gives us law, gov- 
ernment, philosophy . . 90 

People of one age, hard- 
ly differ from those of 
another age 230 

Phantoms, people deal in 
largely 148 

Philology, on the decline 7 

— charm of the study. . . 36 

Phrasis, early work of 
author 3 5 

Pictures, do not show 
events, nor give size, 
time, motion 65 

— all we get from them, 
inference 65 

— do not reproduce ob- 
jects 69 

— never present objects 
as they are — neither 
does history 71 

Place, of others, who can 
take 201 

Plagiarism 179 

— how steal men's 
thoughts 181 

— no man -indebted to 
others for what he 
knows 182 

Plans, nature has none. . 211 

Pleasures, new, why seek 

them? 194 

— thousands of beautiful 
things in sight and we 
never see them 19 4 

Plurality, there is no 
such thing . . . .' 108 

Poison, power in quantity 
only 202 

Praise and fame, why 
hanker for them?.... 170 

Prevision, or foresight, 
want of 191 

— ordinarily people care 
not for coming trouble 193 

Proof, establishes noth- 
ing, is nothing 218 



INDEX 



277 



— only what people say. 219 
Protection and Abuses. . 187 
— everybody wants it. . . . 188 
— costs money to some 

one 189 

— state really affords 

none 190 

Punishments, originally 

for slaves only 247 

Real Things. Are our 

ideas real 96 

Reflection, a true picture 67 
Relations of things .... 153 
Religion, the religious 

question 11 

— the author's experience 12 
— change in views. » . . . . 15 
— prevailing anti- relig- 
ious sentiment 17 

— German sentiment ... 18 
— really renewed, no man 18 
— change here implies a 

change wholly 20 

Resemblance, no evidence 

of identity 240 

Revolution, no remedy in 

bloodshed 250 

— will come some day. . 199 

Right, what it is 130 

Romans believed in gods 255 
Rome, isolated, independ- 
ent 253 

— always strong, central- 
ized 254 

— strong men made it. . . 255 
— had no time or taste 
for art, science or phi- 
losophy. Law and war 

preferred 255 

— corruption and venality 

prevailed 258 

— had victories, but ruin 

came 2 56 

— with their opportuni- 
ties the rich became 

richer 258 

— the conquered East 

brought its luxuries .. . 258 
— slaves numerous. Will 

America learn? 25 9 

Rule, the right to, denied 21 



Sad, the fate of men de- 
pends upon what peo- 
ple say 219 

See things as they are, 
do we ever? 156 

See, we do, things that 
do not exist 99 

— not as they are, but as 
we are 103 

— only a few points of 
an object 105 

Seeing and knowing, 
often we think to see 
and do not 97 

— when we see, we feel. . 135 

Self-support, this nature 
teaches 198 

Sentence, a simple growth 6 

— it is, not words, that 
indicates facts 37 

Signs, people believe in. 214 

Single, nothing is — all 
compound — every ani- 
mal and plant has or- 
gans 112 

Size, distance, time are 
not in things. They 
are only thoughts 114 

— has nothing to do with 
bodies 115 

Slight evidence establish- 
es crime 219 

Sorrows and pains are 
matters of feeling .... 137 

Special Topics 135 

Spelling Words, what is 
correct way? 234 

Taxes and tribute come 
from laws 251 

Teaching, from this most 
of our knowledge 
comes 224 

— by this, thoughts and 
facts are impressed. . . 225 

Thinking, danger not of 
thinking wrong but of 
not thinking at all. .. . 206 

Thought is all we get in 
writings of men 81 

Thoughts direct our ac- 
tions and alter our ca- 
reer 139 



27 8 NEW VIEWS 

Time and motion, not in 

things 120 

Tragedy of civilized life 215 
Transformation, why 

speak of it? 242 

Trials at law, a farce. ... 21 
Troubles, arise from un- 
fortunate views of 

things 211 

True, people assert things 
only because they be- 
lieve 62 

Truth and right, only for 

to-day 233 

Truth, what it is 61 

— a variable quantity ... 63 

— our opinion only 6 3 

— if men do not see it 
how could they paint 

it? 72 

— what is true at one time 

not true at another. . . 92 
— fondness for, people 

talk of 217 

— new views of 7 

Value, ideas of, an illu- 
sion 147 

Views of things, all we 
have 148 

— correct ones, highly 
important 94 

— a thousand views every 
object has 9 7 

Visions, and our dreams 
are real 98 

Wants, make men poor. . 141 
— source of most of our 

troubles 139 

Wealth, does not pay. . . 2 8 
— desire for, absurd.... 2 9 
Witches, wise people be- 
lieved in 10 



ON OLD SUBJECTS 



Woman, her status at 

present 2 4 

Words, never have same 
meaning for two peo- 
ple 203 

— what they do 10 9 

— do not express thoughts 3 7 
— those spoken, earlier 

than the written 3 8 

— why spoken differently 

by different people. ... 39 
— no two people speak 

alike or sing alike. ... 39 
— change for harmony. . 3 9 
— change because of dif- 
ference in vocal organs 40 
— also for change in 

meaning 40, 42 

— in all changes, no new 

element is added 41 

— change of endings. ... 43 

— verb forms 43 

— expletives, their char- 
acter , 44 

— prefixes to verbs 45 

— all prefixes, growths, 

nothing new added. . . 46 
— reduplication, a prefix. 48 
— from various languages 

compared 48 

— Anglo-Saxon article 

and its form 5 

— Anglo-Saxon forms of 

words . . 51 

— Anglo-Saxon witan, and 

forms 52 

— as metaphors 5 3 

— fashion in 5 3 

— new meanings 5 4 

— history of 5 5 

— as hieroglyphics 56 

— defining them 5 6 

— a word and its mean- 
ing 56 

I — the word work and its 

applications 59 



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